The Game
by Deep Redd
Summary: When Bakura returns from the afterlife, he needs the fear and sadness of others to survive. But for some reason, Kia's misery supports him the most... With Kaiba's newest invention, he creates a virtual reality in which Kia suffers at the hands of Seto Kaiba. Can she get over her fear of him? (Not rated M, but descriptive torture scenes ahead)
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1:

Seto Kaiba sat in the homeroom working away on his laptop when Kia walked in. The room was set up so that the desks were aligned in twos parrallel to the door. The teacher's desk was at the top of the room, facing the thirty other desks in the room. There were three columns and five rows of seats. Each desk had it's varnish chipped or tarnished in some way and every seat's cushion had been ripped off. Kia sighed at the sorry sight, but it was a palace compared to the orphange. She took her seat beside the window and proceded to take her book out of her bag. No sooner had she the novel in her hand, Yugi and his group walked into the room. Joey ran over to her straight away.

"Kia!" He yelled at her on his way over. She rolled her eyes and muttered something in Irish to herself, before she turned to face them all.

"Morning guys" was her reply. She smirked at Yugi, she tolerated him the best.

"You're still studying that Irish mumbo-jumbo, aren't you?" Tristan asked her. Kia nodded enthusiastically.

"I have roots in Ireland, of course I'd want to learn their culture and the language" she explained. Yugi and Téa nodded, while Joey and Tristan looked somewhat confused.

"So anyway Kia..." Tristan began to talk again. She turned toward him. "I heard that an Irish movie has come to Domino City, perhaps you'd like to..."

"No, thank you Tristan" she refused the offer while putting her hand up in objection. Across the room, Kaiba's laptop sat untouched for some-time upon the table, his hands suspended slightly above the keys, as he listened into their conversation. He couldn't call it eavesdropping, they were talking so loud that the juniors downstairs probably heard Kia's life-story too. Tristan was highly offended.

"I don't feel up for a movie with a friend right now..." she justified and looked down at her desk. Kaiba smirked when he saw Trisan's face drop at the word 'friend'. Joey, however, began moving toward the seat next to her. He opened his mouth as he reached for the chair.

"How 'bout going ou' with me? And not as friends..." he suggested cheesily. His hand nearly touched the chair as Kia answered him.

"No Joey, I don't feel like dating eith..." she trailed off as the chair beside her was whipped backwards and Kaiba's lean body appeared there.

"Wha' you doing 'ere Kaiba?" Joey snarled angrily, put out that Kaiba had snagged the seat before he got there. "This is a high school Mutt, I have to come here every day, unfortunately" Kaiba snapped back, giving him one of his infamous glares and then turning to Kia.

"You know Irish?" He queried. Kia nodded, slightly confused. "I want to offer you a private-tutoring position with my younger brother, provided that you are competant enough to teach him about Ireland and its language" he continued. Kia was shocked. Téa spoke up.

"What a curious offer. Why would Mokuba need to know Irish Kaiba?" she turned her head to the side as she talked.

"The future of Kaiba Corp. will be in his capable hands one day. It helps to know more than two languages when dealing internationally" he explained, without turning away from Kia. She cocked her head to the side.

"Might I ask how much money you'd be offering me?" she mumbled. Since the two dweebs had asked her out, Kaiba had noticed her uncomfortable posture.

"Depends on how well you teach him" Kaiba replied with a smirk. Yugi thought this strange. Throughout this entire ordeal, he had kept his thoughts to himself. Now he noticed that Kaiba was definately not himself.

"Alright, I accept your offer" she smirked back at him. "When do I start?"

"How does tomorrow evening sound?" Kaiba queried. Kia smiled a small smile.

"I'm looking forward to it" she mumbled. Kaiba smirked triumphantly. From across the room, Ryou Bakura watched the entire ordeal and wondered how he could manipulate her feeble mind now that she would be over at Kaiba's mansion. He gritted his teeth. 'My plan will take longer to execute than I had originally planned...' He thought in anger. The class bell rang just then and the rest of the students in the room scrambled to find a seat. Kaiba stayed in the seat beside Kia, much to her surprise. Bakura was infuriated. Yugi passed a note to Kia.

"Did you notice Kaiba's weird behaviour?" It read. Kia looked at it, confused for a moment. She scribbled back regardless and passed it back over to Yugi, trying to be careful and not let Kaiba see. Unfortunately, he did see it and smirked when he read Yugi's comment. But Kia's reply had him snickering quietly away to himself.

"Not at all. I was surprised by his offer to be quite honest Yugi but apart from that, he seemed like his normal self ;) " Yugi puzzled over this reply until the bell at the end of class rang out. The most puzzling thing about the reply was the winky smiley face at the end. At the break in the lesson, Yugi walked back over to Kia and Kaiba's desk. Kaiba was working away on his laptop as per usual, so Yugi thought it was the best time to ask Kia what she had meant.

"Your reply was confusing... " He began to say in a hushed whisper. Kia covered his mouth with her hand and whispered back at him.

"Cut me some slack Yugi, I've been here for six months and I barely know the guy" She reasoned. He nodded in approval.

"I see..." was all he could say. She laughed at his uncertainty.

After school, she walked home alone. From the school, it took her about forty minutes to walk down to the desolate building. Of the three windows at the front of the building, two were boarded up and the red-bricks were falling out of the walls like teeth. It was a dreary place to live, but it was her only place to live.

The building was divided into the ground-floor and first-floor, the ground floor having a living room, a small kitchen (where she spent most of her time after school) and a dining room. The second floor had all the dorm rooms and Kia's small private room. Unbeknownst to the younger children, the owner of the orphanage had a small attic room where she had her privacy from the children. Nobody but Kia knew of that secret room, and occassionally if she felt low, she was allowed to go up there for a while to read in peace.

All of the ground floor rooms were bare, with cheap wooden panelling on the walls and floors, a cheap TV set in the living room and old moldy beanbags to sit on. The old armchair in the room was only used by Ms Greene, the elderly orphanage owner who could barely stand anymore. The kitchen was cornered off from the living room by half a plasterboard wall and kept a small fridge, cooker and wooden countertop. It wasn't very hygienic and Kia was surprised at the government's lack of response to these conditions. The dining room had a small wooden table and seven rickety chairs, a definate health hazard for those who sat in them.

She entered through the remains of the front door and made her way into her room. In one corner there was a small bed, and in the other there was a small desk for her homework. Despite the fact that she had been living there for ten years, the desk and bed were in bad shape from mis-use. The old pine frames were chipped or scored and the bed itself creeked with the tiniest movement. She had a small trunk where she kept all her possessions, including her clothes, at the end of the bed. She changed into a red t-shirt and black jeans before going back downstairs to cook the dinner for the eleven children staying there.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Completely forgot to write one last chapter! I'm new to posting fanfics (I usually write them out and forget about them) but I'm going to try this out and see how it goes! Reviews are appreciated, but no flaming! Enjoy and let me know what you think!**

Chapter 2

Kia walked the hour-long journey to the Kaiba Mansion from the orphanage. Her feet were aching from the long walk, plus the fact that the shoes the orphanage had given her were cheap and inadequate. She finally reached the mansion and rang the Blue-Eyes White Dragon shaped doorbell. Kaiba answered the door.

"Ms Boulevard, you're a few minutes early" was his greeting. She smirked at him, feeling as though she should bow to him or something weird like that.

"Yes, I do try to be earlier than the appointed time" she explained as he stood aside and let her into the house. "It's a concept I have in my head. It's much better to be a few minutes early rather than a few minutes late..."

"I agree with your concept Ms Boulevard." Kaiba assured her as he closed the door and led her to the kitchen. "Mokuba will be down in a moment, I wanted to know what you'll be teaching him and how you'll do it." He stated and sat on a high chair at the breakfast bar. He motioned for her to do the same. As she sat down, she had a look around.

The walls were a forest green colour all around the room, with a deeper green coloured tile above the appliances. The floor tiles were a strange oak colour, strange because one would think it was floorboard upon first glance. The cupboards and counter sides were oak (wooden this time) and the actual counter-top was green marble. The breakfast bar was designed in the same fashion, the cushioned seats being green to match the rest of the room.

The spotlights above them shone onto the various areas about the room. Six pointing at the counter-top that ran along two and a half walls in the room, another in the middle to point at the island, yet another pointing to the breakfast bar where they sat and two more pointing at the dark green stove on the opposite end of the room. Kia thought of the dreary brown kitchen back at the orphanage.

"Well, the Irish test in Ireland is divided into two levels, honors and pass. Pass is very basic Irish whereas honors is advanced Irish. Has Mokuba ever studied Irish before?" Kia asked him, bringing her attention back to their conversation. He seemed very relaxed as he poured whole orange juice into a glass and offered it to her. She took it gratefully, thanking him as she did.

"He had a year's worth of tutoring from a psychotic Irishman last year" Kaiba offered. Kia almost spat out her drink with laughter.

"A psychotic Irishman?!" she squealed. Kaiba smirked. He found it strange that he liked her laugh.

"Precisely Ms Boulevard" he said, swirling the juice in his glass. He couldn't look at her without smirking. He had known this since she first arrived six months prior. He watched as she covered her mouth with a slim hand and laughed her quiet, gentle laugh.

"Well in that case, I'll have to assess his level before we start anything" she concluded after her fit of laughter. Kaiba nodded. "I had a feeling I'd need this test today" she smirked, as she took the test paper from her bag. Just then, Mokuba walked into the room.

"Evening Seto. Oh, uh, good evening Ms Boulevard, I assume?" he asked, holding out his eleven year-old hand for a handshake. Kia smirked at him and took his hand.

"Please, call me Kia. Permission to call you Mokuba young sir?" was her slightly cheeky reply. Mokuba chuckled as they shook hands.

"Permission granted m'am" he replied with a smile. Kia handed him the paper with a cheeky grin.

"Just to go through the plan, I need you to take this assessment test today so I'll know what to teach you tomorrow" she explained. He nodded as he strolled into the adjoining dining room and sat down. He read the first question and began to write furiously almost immediately. From what she could see, the dining room was every bit as fancy as the kitchen, with a long oak table and dark walls. There was plenty of lighting though, so Mokuba could work away at his test.

"I suppose you'll need to wait here until he's completed the test, won't you?" Kaiba asked. Kia looked down at her feet. Kaiba followed her gaze and saw her rubbish shoes. Mentally, he gasped at the poor quality but didn't react physically.

"I wouldn't want to put you out..." she muttered, thinking of the long walk home, only to have to make the trip thrice more.

"I insist."

"Um, pardon?" She was confused. Yugi and his friends always said Kaiba was a ruthless, cold-hearted game player who only did things for himself. She had seen many examples of such behavior when she first arrived, but those occurrences became more and more scarce the longer she stayed here. Now though, he was being courteous and downright strange.

"Did I say something wrong?" He cocked his head to the side in genuine puzzlement. He thought he was being nice, offering to let her stay for the two hours Mokuba would be doing her little test. Now he wasn't sure...

"Are you feeling alright Kaiba?" she inquired with an unsteady voice. Kaiba straightened up slightly.

"Yes of course, why do you ask?" He was quite confused now. If she were anybody else, he would have either barked at them, or fired them by now. Even that thought alone confused him further. Why doesn't he give out? Why does he care if she likes him or not?

"Uh Kaiba? You're acting really unusual now..." Her concerned and gentle voice brought him out of his trance.

"Apologies Ms Boulevard, my mind was elsewhere momentarily..." He stood up from the chair and gestured for her to follow him. She put her glass back on the bar and followed him into the entrance hall. For a heart stopping moment, she thought he was going to send her on her way. Instead, he led her into the glamorous living room.

The walls were cream in colour with a golden trim; the long shaggy carpet was a rich caramel colour. The couches in the room were off-white with golden edging and there was a caramel chaise-long in one corner. In the other three corners, there were bookshelves full of DVDs and a TV set, attached to a DVD player. Kia gazed at the beautiful décor and thought back to the barely adequate conditions in the orphanage. The chandelier above her head shone a beautiful full light around the room, reminding her of the basic light bulbs with wires fully revealed back home.

"Take a seat" Kaiba offered. He stood by the varnished fireplace where a small but cosy fire was kept enclosed. Kia moved to one of the couches and perched herself delicately on the edge of it. Kaiba frowned. "You can sit properly you know" he stated impatiently. He wanted her to be comfortable, that's why he moved her from the kitchen to there.

"Um, but I uh..." Kia didn't know how to explain why she couldn't. If she said she felt dirty, that would obviously be mistaken to be of a sexual nature. She wavered slightly on the edge of her seat, quite literally in this case.

"Ms Boulevard? Are you feeling alright?" Now he was concerned. She cringed.

"I don't feel comfortable sitting on such clean upholstery Kaiba..." She smiled slightly at him, blushing as she spoke. He looked her up and down.

"You don't look unkempt Ms Boulevard, I don't see a problem arising from you sitting properly on my couch." He smirked at her as her face dropped. She was still uncertain though, so Kaiba moved toward her and gently touched her shoulders with his fingertips. Without much resistance, she allowed his fingers to push her shoulders onto the back of the couch. "I said you could sit comfortably, you shouldn't make yourself uncomfortable because you know that a couch of such a ridiculous colour will show up the smallest mark of dirt..." he explained as he moved back to his place at the fireside.

"Uh, I... Thank you?" She was at a loss at what to say in response. Her feeble thanks was miserable and plain embarrassing. Kaiba however, smirked.

"Not a bother, the couches are there to be sat on..." He checked his watch nonchalantly and noted the time. "It's quarter to eight, when do you have tea? he enquired. Kia pondered his question for a second before she replied.

"About half seven to be honest, but I..." She was stopped by a hand raised by Kaiba in objection.

"You're a guest in my house, it would be rude not to offer refreshments. I'll be back in a moment Ms Boulevard" he smirked as he left the room. She was gob smacked, for want of a better word. Standing up warily, she tip-toed to the DVD collection to have a look at his vast collection. She giggled as she saw the four "Die-Hard" movies aligned perfectly under a label reading 'Action'. She found more to giggle at, the "Saw" movies, "Mama", "The Conjuring" and "Silent Hill" under 'Horror'. "Sweeny Todd" under 'Mildly disturbing, borderline entertaining'. There was even a tab labeled 'Mokuba's Favorites', with an array of her childhood favorites included in the line-up. She laughed when she saw the 'Seto's Favorites' tab, with only one DVD under it.

"I'm not that interested in movies to be quite honest..." Kaiba's voice suddenly behind her gave her a heart attack. She jumped in response, backwards and hit into Kaiba. His strong hands caught onto her arms to steady her. "Woah, are you okay?" he asked with a smirk on his face.

"Oh my gosh... I wasn't expecting you to sneak up on me... Don't do that again..." she gasped. Kaiba twirled her around on the spot, still holding her arms.

"My apologies Ms Boulevard, I'll try not to 'sneak up on you' again" His smirk became more pronounced as he changed his tone of voice to one of a mocking nature, as he re-used her words against her. She began to laugh.

"You don't seem like yourself at all Kaiba, are you sure you're feeling alright?" she asked again. His smirk dissipated as he realised she was genuinely asking the question. It wasn't a joke, nor a mockery, it was concern.

"I've never felt better" he stated with a half smile, much to Kia's amazement. Regardless, she smiled back at him and was still smiling when she left the mansion an hour later.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Okaaaay... So I have one follower and no reviews? It's better than nothing, but do leave a review if you have anything positive or negative to help moi! I don't have an update plan for this fanfic, so I'll just update whenever I can! Enjoy!**

Chapter 3

Kia was correcting Mokuba's test the following day in the homeroom when Kaiba strolled in. He stopped when he saw Kia already at the desk, but only for a moment.

"You're in early" he commented slyly as he sat beside her again. She giggled.

"There were three sick children this morning at the orphanage, it was either come to school early or stay back all day and play nurse..." she replied, feeling slightly guilty. She knew Ms Greene was much too old to help them, but she just couldn't stay there all day long.

"Orphanage?" Kaiba was puzzled. He didn't know much about this intelligent brunette, apart from what he'd seen of her at school and yesterday at his mansion. Kia looked up from the papers.

"Yes, orphanage. I'm an orphan..." she mumbled quietly, just loud enough for Kaiba to hear. His eyes widened slightly at this revelation, but he remained calm. Well, externally he seemed calm but internally, his frozen emotions that were already thawing began to melt at an alarming rate. 'She's an orphan too?' he thought, the only train of thought that he could actually understand.

Ryou walked in just then and made his way over to their desk. Kaiba was in a trance-like state and Kia waved her hand in front of his face several times.

"Earth to Kaiba, come in Kaiba?" He remained unresponsive to Kia's attempts at getting his attention back. She frowned.

"Uh, is this a bad time Kia?" Ryou's annoyingly soft voice and British accent took her attention away from Kaiba.

"Not at all, uh Ryou?" she replied, unsure of the reason behind him talking to her.

"Well, I noticed that you had an extremely long way to walk home in the evenings..." he began, but Kia stopped him.

"And you noticed this how?" she asked in an angry voice. Ryou took a step back, as Kaiba came out of his dream land. He noticed Kia's change in demeanor.

"What have I missed?" he inquired urgently. Kia continued to stare at Ryou.

"He's been watching me..." she stated coldly, but Ryou shook his hands and head simultaneously.

"No no, I see you walk past my house every day" he explained quickly. Kia raised an eyebrow. "My house is ten minutes down the road from here, I see you walk down the long street about a mile before you turn off. I watch an episode of "Road Wars", the British edition, and look out the window again and you're still walking..." he continued, keeping a wary eye on Kaiba. Kia looked down at the Irish test.

"I see..." She was prepared to give him a piece of her mind for being perverted, but now she realised that he wasn't being weird, he was concerned.

"I was going to offer you a room in my house is all..." Ryou muttered, about to walk away. Kia stood up.

"What? Really? For how much?" She rushed all her words into one sentence, too keen to move out of the orphanage to notice. Kaiba chuckled to himself.

"Well, uh, I suppose twenty dollars a week." Ryou replied, seemingly surprised that she accepted his offer. She clapped her hands together.

"Yes please, when can I move in properly?!" she exclaimed. Kaiba looked at her in surprise. Ryou told her whenever she wanted to, gave her his address and left the desk. Kaiba turned toward her.

"So you're moving in with Bakura?" he sneered, showing his distaste for a member of Yugi's gang. Kia pulled a face.

"It's better than the damn orphanage, trust me..." she replied with contempt. She looked back down at the papers and wrote "87% - Honours" on the top of the first page.

"I know, I moved in with a dangerous millionaire as a child to get away from it" Kaiba stated matter-of-factly. Kia turned to face him.

"I doubt Ryou's a dangerous millionaire now Kaiba, that is a bit far-fetched" she returned with a smirk. He began to laugh quietly.

"I see Mokuba has been promoted from a common level of Irish to the honors level" He pointed to the mark on the page. Kia nodded enthusiastically.

"It seems your psychotic Irishman taught him well" she explained. Kaiba began to laugh again. " His standard of Irish is better than that of an Irish child. He'll be able to appreciate Irish poems, stories and dramas now" She was obviously proud of her young student.

"He'll be happy to know, I'm sure" was Kaiba's reply. He suddenly thought of something. "Perhaps I can help you move your things to Bakura's house this afternoon, and then give you a ride out to my place for Mokuba's tutoring?" he suggested. Kia looked up at his cobalt blue eyes.

"I wouldn't want to p..." she began, but was interrupted by Kaiba's hand across her mouth.

"I insist" he smirked, but she shook her head and tried to talk against his hand. "I won't take 'no' for an answer" he added. She frowned slightly and reluctantly nodded. He dropped his hand. "Good." Kia studied him.

'It's still the same Kaiba, not an actor' she thought, cocking her head to one side. His chocolate brown hair was in it's usual style, his blue eyes as striking as ever. His clear skin wasn't discoloured, nor did he look ill. He just looked... Happier...

As Kia studied Kaiba, he studied her. Her chocolate brown locks fell to just below her bust, her grey-blue eyes were staring at him. Her slightly round face was pale in colour, not in a bad way, but because of her roots in Ireland. Light freckles, so light that one had to squint to see them, covered her face and her lips were shiny with gloss.

The bell rang and Kia jumped out of her stupor. She looked around guiltily, before putting her papers away in her bag. Kaiba continued to stare at her. Neither one had noticed the class fill the room around them and Yugi was watching them. Something told him to keep an eye on Kia and if he didn't know any better, he would've sworn it was Yami warning him.

* * *

Later that evening, Kaiba and Kia were in Kaiba's large and luxurious limousine, on their way to the Kaiba mansion.

"Thank you for helping me move my stuff..." Kia mumbled. She felt extremely uncomfortable sitting on the white leather seats in the limo. She was perched on the edge of the seat, emulating her behavior from the mansion the day before. Kaiba sighed.

"It wasn't a bother, now sit back properly in the seat..." he muttered. Kia shifted back slightly. She was sitting across from Kaiba and tried to hide the fact that she was still perched precariously by crossing her legs. Kaiba was momentarily distracted by her thin legs, but mentally shook off any crude thoughts and again, pushed her backwards with his fingertips. She blushed crimson at his touch.

"Right, okay, I'm sitting properly..." she mumbled with a smile on her face, pushing his hands away but not daring to look up at him in fear that he would see her blushing. He saw and smirked as he thought of the many ways he could make her blush more.

"You seem a little warm, do you feel ill?" he mocked. She looked up at him.

"N..No..." she stammered. He cocked his head to the side, bringing his right hand up to her shoulder.

"Feeling, uncomfortable perhaps?" he suggested, touching her shoulder again. Her eyes widened. If this was anybody else, she would slap them away and defend herself. But she couldn't do that to Kaiba. Why not?

She felt a twinge in her chest as she realised something unmistakable. She had a crush on Seto Kaiba. She gasped and fell right back in her seat, only then realizing that she had leaned toward Kaiba's outstretched hand.

"Kia?" Kaiba now looked concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Um, nothing..." She smiled at him. "Nothing at all"


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Well things are improving for moi! Shout out to RandomCelebLover for the first review! Totes made my day! So I'm from Ireland (hence why Kia is part Irish) and I've written in some Irish into this chapter. (I also wrote it phonetically so everybody can read it!) Enjoy, review, let me know how it's going! ;) **

Chapter 4

"So your first poem is called 'Colscaradh' (prononced 'col-scaw-rah') and it's about a man and his wife who don't agree on where the wife's place is. The name of the poem means 'divorce' and well... You can guess what happens at the end of it..." Kia explained to her young student. After what had happened in the limo just moments ago, she was trying to keep her mind occupied. Mokuba looked at the poem, clearly interested.

"Mr Flanagan always talked about his wife staying at home to mind the children" he stated flatly. "Looking at this poem, I can see where these two disagreed."

"That makes your job much easier so" Kia assured him. "You already know what to talk about in your answer. I'll give you some vocabulary and you can start on a sample answer for this question..." She handed him a piece of paper which read 'Discuss the differant outlooks of life examined by the man and woman in this poem'. Mokuba wrote down the extra words and began working on it straight away. Kia got up from her place at the dining table and walked out of the royal blue room. She made her way into kitchen and jumped about a foot into the air when she saw Kaiba's thin figure leaning against the counter.

"My gosh Kaiba..." she gasped, bringing a hand up to her mouth in surprise. He smirked, uncrossed his arms and walked over to an oak door set into the wall. He opened it, revealing a fridge and took out two bottles of coca cola.

"Thirsty? You did alot of talking for the past half hour" he informed her. She smirked back at him as he slid a bottle along the countertop to her. She caught it and opened it.

"I am a little thirsty, yeah..." she grinned, before taking a sip. 'Half an hour?' she thought, as she didn't realise how long she'd been there already.

"Are you hungry?" he asked next, after taking a sip of his drink and leaning on the counter again. Kia shuffled, clearly uncomfortable. "Be honest..." he instructed with a smirk. She looked down.

"Maybe a little bit, but I wouldn't want to put y..." Kaiba was across the room like a shot and put his hand over her mouth.

"If you are hungry, you shall eat" he told her. She looked at him in disbelief. He raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you're anorexic..."

"No, of course not!" Kia stood back away from him, offended he would say such a thing. Wait, did she look anorexic? "Why, do I look anorexic?" she asked him worriedly. He chuckled.

"No, you're thin but not unnaturally so" he assured her. He felt slightly put out that she had moved away from him, but he understood why she did. Mokuba walked in.

"Hey Kia, will you check this for me?" He handed her the notebook and began walking out of the room. "Can I take a fifteen minute break please?" he asked. Kaiba ignored him and stared at Kia.

"Uh, yeah, alright..." Kia looked at him and smiled, before turning her attention to the notebook. Mokuba ran off to his room and Kaiba turned to the fridge.

"You like italian food?" He looked at the ingredients in front of him and thought of a number of differant meals he could prepare for her. She took a seat at the breakfast bar and smiled.

"Depends what you're thinking of cooking" She put the notebook on the countertop and smirked up at him. He turned to face he and saw her smirk.

"You're getting pasta" he told her and took out what he needed. Kia laughed softly and began reading down through Mokuba's work. After a few minutes, Kaiba had pasta boiling in a pot and a cheese sauce in another. Kia looked up.

"Do you have a bathroom?" she asked Kaiba. He turned around from the stove and nodded.

"Of course I do, what kind of a home would this be if I didn't?" He smrked before turning back around. Kia waited for a minute.

"May I use it please?" she asked somewhat impatient. He turned around again.

"Aha, yes, follow me." He smirked and walked out of the room. Kia hopped off the chair and put the notebook on the countertop. Just as she turned around to follow him, he came back into the room. He took her hand and led her out of the room.

"You took too long getting off the chair, I'll have to help you next time..." he smirked back at her. She was too busy staring at him to notice where they were going. He had turned around fully to face her and was walking backwards while holding both of her hands.

"Kaiba, what are you doing?" She was surprised and worried simultaneously. Why was he acting so cute?

"Bringing you to the bathroom, what else?" was his reply. He brought her to a long hallway, with doors lining each side. They were still on the ground floor, yet there were more rooms down his hallway than in the entire orphanage. Kaiba looked at an oak door.

"Bathroom, see?" He pushed open the door. Kia ducked inside immediately with a quick 'Thanks' and shut the door. The bathoom was bigger than her room. There was a large and splendid bath in the middle of the room, one of the ones you see on TV that are raised up and set into steps made of beautiful small rocks. The theme was light blue, light blue tiles on the walls and a darker blue on the floor. The toilet was blue and stood a step higher than the floor too. The hand basin was opposite the toilet and had a blue framed mirror above it. Kia just barely remembered to lock the door before walking over to use the facilities.

Kaiba stood a few doors down the hall, waiting for her to finish. He was so glad that she hadn't asked him why he had called her by her first name back in the limo. Did she notice? Hopefully not...

"Thank the heavens you're still here" her cute voice came from behind him. "I would have been lost forever in this place..."

"I'd find you, don't worry" he replied with a smirk. He took her left hand and led her back to the kitchen. He sat her down on the chair she was using before and turned his attention to his cheese sauce. He added cooked broccolli to the pot and was stirring it when he felt Kia's small hand on his arm.

"Why did you call me Kia back in the limo?" she asked him. He froze. Damn, she noticed...

"It was a slip of the tongue Ms Boulevard, I was concerned for your safety. I apologise..." he muttered, clearly not impressed with himself.

"I didn't mind Kaiba, I was curious to know why..." She walked back to her chair. Kaiba turned away from the stove and faced her.

"You don't mind?" he repeated. She kept her eyes on the notebook.

"Nope, not at all. 'Ms Boulevard' sounds too posh to be me." She underlined a mis-spelled word on the page.

"I disagree entirely, it isn't too posh..." Kaiba plated up the pasta and poured the cheese sauce on top of it. He passed a plate over to Kia, left another on the breakfast bar and walked into the dining room with Mokuba's. Kia looked down at her plate.

"This looks so much better than what I cook at home..." she muttered. Again, she felt uncomfortable in this place, fancy furniture and fancy food. Kaiba walked back in.

"Do you not trust my cooking?" He sat across from her and smirked. She looked up at him.

"I do, I just, uh..." She smiled a small smile. "I'm not used to this kind of food... You see, we have barely anything at the orphanage so..." She drifted off and looked down.

"I understand. Dinner's are never much fun when you have to share a small portion with seven other children." Kaiba empathised, remembering his days of giving Mokuba his dinner. Kia nodded.

"Except there are eleven other children now..." she corrected. Using her fork, she attacked a piece of broccolli and pasta before bringing it up to her mouth.

"Eleven? You'd think some families would go in and adopt them..." Kaiba mumbled, eating his own food.

"The youngest is thirteen months" Kia informed him, after swallowing her mouthful. "Ms Greene won't let anybody else look after her, she hasn't a name and she doesn't eat any form of solid food." Kia picked up some more pasta on her fork.

"Thirteen months? The youngest when I was young was Mokuba and he was five..." He looked up at her. She nodded.

"I'm the eldest, I'm seventeen... I was in Tokyo, but they moved me out here when they ran out of room..." she confirmed. "Apart from me, Marceline is the eldest."

"And how old is she?" Kaiba queried. Kia smirked at him.

"Ten" Kaiba dropped his fork.

"Who do you talk to?"

"Marceline sometimes, or else I go upstairs into the attic and read." She stabbed another piece of broccolli and put it in her mouth. "And at school, I have Yugi's friends to talk to..." She pulled a face.

"Yes, I noticed Wheeler and Taylor the other morning..." Kaiba commented with a sly grin.

"Ugh... They're always asking me crap like that..." She got off her chair and walked over to the green sink. It must have been custom made, because she'd never seen a green sink before. Without thinking, she washed her plate and fork. "I'm sick of them. Even Duke Devlin asked me and I said no. I wish they'd stop asking..."

"You didn't have to wash up, I would have done that..." Kaiba exclaimed. Mokuba dashed in and dropped his plate on the side.

"I'm gonna start writing notes on 'Colscaradh' Kia..." he explained before dashing off into the dining room. Kia laughed.

"I bet you ten dollars I'll be asked more than three times to go out again tomorrow." She flashed a big smile at Kaiba. He looked at her and saw the michievious look in her eyes.

"Alright, you're on" He smirked back at her. He loved games. This was going to be fun.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Over a hundred views, but only one review and two followers... Really? Is it THAT bad? And here I thought I'd done an alright job... Anyhoo, I shall continue to update nevertheless. I seem to be updating almost daily now, which is better than I expected ;) So do share a thought, enjoy and let me know how it's going! I do shout-outs and I visit your fanfics too, but I can't if I don't know who you are!**

Chapter 5

Kaiba looked at his watch and saw that it was almost eight.

"It's nearly eight, do you want a ride down to Bakura's place?" he offered. She blushed slightly.

"I wouldn't..." she began, but his hand blocked her mouth yet again. She had taken her seat at the breakfast bar and he was looking directly at her. "You insist" she mumbled against his hand. He nodded and chuckled.

"Yes I do" he smirked. She closed her eyes.

"Okay, yes please..." she mumbled again. He took his hand away from her mouth.

"Mokuba!" he called out. Mokuba came rushing into the room.

"Is she leaving now?" he squeaked. Kaiba nodded at him then walked into the front hall. Mokuba walked her out of the kitchen and into the diningroom to get her bag. She put it over her shoulder and made her way into the cream coloured hallway. Kaiba was nowhere to be seen.

"I wish you could stay for longer..." Mokuba muttered, mostly to himself. Kia was about to answer when he wrapped his little arms around her. "Seto normally works late, he's been taking shorter work days to be around... But when he starts working late again, you'll be like a baby-sitter and teacher, and that'll be really fun!" He ran off into his room, waving his notebook in the air like a flag as he pounded up the large staircase. Kia looked around the room.

The layout was simple, but on a large scale. The front hall was huge, with cream chairs in front of the two large windows. When she walked through the front door, the grand staircase was directly in front of her. It travelled from the centre of the room up to the back wall and branched off at either side to the differant areas of the house. To the left, the door into the lavish living room and further up along, the door into the diningroom. On the same wall as the staircase was the the door into the kitchen and to the right, large double doors.

Kia was curious as to what other rooms this place would need, but then again, she'd only seen four rooms in this place. (One of those rooms was the bathroom and she hadn't a clue where that was!) There was fancy wooden flooring that she could scratch, or the fancy vases dotted around the place that she could knock over, or clean cream coloured walls that she could dirty or... This was a dangeous place to her. So much could go wrong...

"Ready to go?" Kaiba appeared from the doorway into the kitchen. Kia looked down from the biggest golden chandelier she'd ever seen and replied with a squeak. Kaiba cocked his head to he side and raised an eyebrow. "Are you alright?"

"Yes, yes I am..." She muttered and went to open the door. Kaiba appeared on the spot and held it open. "Woah, thank you..." she exclaimed.

"Not a bother. We're taking the Lambo" he informed her with a smirk. She looked around. "It's in the garage" he added and took her hand. He led her to a relatively small garage hidden in the trees and bushes surrounding the mansion. He opened the door and revealed the yellow sports car. Kia smiled with excitement. She also noticed the metal lift under it and looked at it confused.

"Why is there a metal lift beneath the car?" she queried, as Kaiba held open the car door for her. He helped her in as he explained it to her.

"I send a message down to my staff in their quarters. Someone goes into the basement garage and drives the car I want onto the lift. They send it up, I drive it away and when I get back, I send it back down again." he stated, then closed her door and walked to his side.

"You have staff, that have their own quarters, that send cars up to the surface for you?" Kia asked him as he sat in.

"Yes" Kaiba flashed her a smirk. She giggled and he drove her the short distance to Bakura's house.

"Thank you for the ride and the meal Kaiba..." Kia went to open her door as she spoke. Kaiba got out and walked around the car to open the door for her.

"Not a bother. You say 'Thank you' way too often..." he replied with a sly grin. Kia laughed as she got out of the expensive car.

"I've never said it before you started talking to me actually..." she informed him. "I haven't had much to be thankful for, apart from Ryou renting me a room and you being... A friend..." She looked down at the sidewalk, then up at the house. Kaiba smirked.

"If I were Wheeler or Taylor, I'd be offended that you called me a friend right now" He chuckled and waited for her reaction. She looked at him.

"You saw that too, huh?" She squinted in the darkness. "You see a whole lot for a so-called 'jerk'" She used her fingers to make quotation marks in the air around Kaiba's face. He laughed and caught both her hands in one of his.

"I see things I'm interested in" he whispered to her, before letting go of her hands and shutting the car door. "You should head inside, if you catch a cold and miss school, I'd go delirious without your company." He didn't see her blush as she nodded and walked up to the front door.

"Good night Kaiba..." she mumbled, the embarassment rendering her unable to speak properly. He laughed.

"Good night Ms Boulevard, apologies for any discomfort I just caused you..." he replied, before saluting her and getting into the Lambo. She stood there and waited until he drove away.

* * *

"Hey Kia, want to see the new Kaiba Corp. game system I bought?" Ryou's soft voice pulled her away from her novel, about an hour after Kaiba dropped her home.

"Uh, sure. Is it fun?" she asked him. She wasn't too fond of computer games, but followed him anyway as he led her through his small house to his games room.

"Lots of fun" he assured her. The machine sat in the middle of the room, a large virtual reality pod waiting for someone to use it. Ryou helped her in.

"What does it do?" Kia looked around slightly sceptical. Ryou smiled.

"A lot of things, replays memories that you can change, dreams or creates a completely new world" he explained as he went through the touch screen controls. "Which do you want to try?"

"I guess... The memory one, let's see if that works" she suggested. Ryou laughed.

"How long ago so?" He prepared to type it in. Kia checked her watch and saw that it was half nine. Two and a half hours ago, Kaiba cooked her something delicious.

"Try two hours and fifteen minutes ago" she smiled. Ryou smiled as he typed in the time. Kia closed her eyes as the machine placed her in a virtual reality that showed her memory. Ryou's appearance changed, his hair became unkempt and his brown eyes were now ringed with a red hue. His smile became a sickening smirk as he watched Kia's memory on the small screen in front of him.

* * *

She was sitting across from Kaiba at the breakfast bar, eating his amazing pasta and cheese sauce with broccolli meal. He was staring at her as she ate and she was staring at him as he ate. She remembered what he said outside Ryou's house, about noticing things he was interested in. She was about to ask him if he meant it, but she realised it was only a memory she was seeing. She sighed dejectedly but to her surprise, Kaiba reached across the table and tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

"Everything alright?" he asked, concern evident on his face. She dropped her fork.

"What?" she blurted out, confused by this change in memory. He frowned slightly.

"Kia, what's wrong?" He put down his fork and gave her his full attention. Using both hands, he cupped her face and looked her in the eyes. "You can tell me, I'll help you."

"Ryou! End this, end it, end it now, please!" she yelled.

* * *

She woke up in the pod in Ryou's house. She gasped in surprise and went through her memory of the evening.

Kaiba cooked the meal. He gave it to her and they both began eating. They spoke about the orphanage and school. She washed her plate, much to his surprise and annoyance.

He looked down at her, but Bakura was still in control. She shook her head, too tired and confused to notice Bakura's new apearance.

"I think I'll go to sleep now Ryou..." she mumbled wearily, climbing out the machine. Bakura helped her and stood her up properly.

'Blast, the machine leaves memories unchanged' he thought in disgust, as he watched her leave the room. 'But perhaps it can create new memories...' he suggested, as he began to create a virtual reality from scratch.

He needed her to fear him. He needed to taste her fear again. He needed to put the fear in her.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Shout out to 'JustAnotherYuGiOhFan'! Okay, so chapter 6 of like... 14? I'm not too sure... But as always, I ask for your input! Enjoy, review ;)**

* * *

Chapter 6

Bakura took Kia from her bed. He tip-toed out of the small room, holding her in his arms, her head lolling around in his uncaring grip. The moonlight coming in the windows along the hallway illuminated his pained face. 'Must taste fear, must get it...' he muttered to himself

You may not have noticed by now, but all this happened after Pharoah Atem, Bakura and Shadi returned to the afterlife. So how is Bakura here?

He feeds off fear. The fear of only one girl, Kia Boulevard. In his time, she was known as 'The Chosen One'. He tasted her fear when she first moved here six months ago, but unfortunately, she was no longer afraid. He was losing his energy and needed to act fast. She needed to fear something or someone.

He set up the VR he had created specially for her earlier and set her into the VR machine. She was completely zoned out, which was quite unusual for her. She was normally a light sleeper, but with a couple of crushed up sleeping pills in her last cup of tea she was out for the count. He smirked.

'Time to get the show on the road' he whispered, as he touched the screen on the machine and started his programme.

* * *

Kia opened her eyes and found herself in Kaiba's mansion.

'Funny, I was at home... Wasn't I?' she thought as she looked around. She was in the livingroom, lying on her back on the caramel floor. 'How odd...' She turned onto her left and screamed.

Kaiba was lying on his side, watching her. He looked so very seductive, with his right hand propping up his head and his left hand resting on his thin waist.

"Hey Kia" he whispered softly, smirking at her scream. He reached out his left hand and brushed his fingers across her cheek. She looked at him and frowned.

"What's going on Kaiba?" she demanded, scared by his behaviour. He said nothing else as he leaned toward her.

Kia felt the pressure of a small, cold knife on her torso. Shocked, she looked up at him in disbelief.

"Kaiba? What are you doing?" she squealed, as he pushed the knife slowly into her abdomen. She gasped and watched as blood seemingly poured from her wound. Her eyes filled with tears with the sharp pain that accompanied the stabbing...

"I'm sorry Kia..." he mumbled, looking down at his blood-soaked hands

* * *

She bolted upright in bed. The sun hadn't even risen yet, it was just before dawn. She looked around the plain room, taking in the lemon coloured walls, pale yellow carpet, small wardrobe and the two doors, and realising she was nowhere near Kaiba's mansion. She got out of the bed and made her way to the small bathroom connected to her bedroom. She shrugged out of her thin pajamas and stepped into the shower.

As she rubbed shampoo into her hair, she thought about her dream. Kaiba had moved toward her , as though he was going to kiss her. Didn't she want that? No, it was only a crush, only a crush, only a crush... Nothing more... Besides, he stabbed her. Did that mean she didn't actually like him?

She got out of the shower and got dressed. Without paying attention, she put on a black lace bra under her white blouse and continued to put on her pink blazer and navy skirt. As she laced up her cheap tennis shoes, Ryou knocked on her door.

"Kia, breakfast is ready!" he called out through the door.

"Thanks!" she called back. She grabbed her schoolbag and strutted down the stairs. She made her way into the small kitchen and sat down. Ryou put a plate of pancakes under her nose.

"Good morning Kia" he greeted with a tired voice. She looked up from the plate.

"Did you not get to sleep last night Ryou?" she asked. Ryou shook his head.

"No, I had a nightmare that Bakura came back and then I couldn't get back to sleep..." he muttered.

"Oh Ryou, I'm so sorry..." she sympathised. She knew about Yami and Bakura and Marik. That was all Yugi would talk about when she first arrived here. He shook his head.

"How did you sleep?" he queried. Kia smiled a small smile.

"Best nights sleep I've ever had" she informed him proudly. 'Apart from that nightmare...' she thought. He laughed gently.

* * *

Ten minutes later, Ryou offered her a ride to school. She politely declined and began the fifteen minute walk to school instead. She kept her face down as she walked own the small street, crossing the road carefully however, when she needed to. Two minutes down the road, Kaiba's limo pulled up beside her.

"Need a ride Ms Boulevard?" he offered, opening the limo door. She jumped when she saw who was addressing her.

"Kaiba?!" she gasped. She took a deep breath and tried again. "The school is about ten minutes away, I can walk it" she smirked. She took a look at the posh interior and dreaded the idea of sitting in the limo again.

"I insist," Kaiba smiled a miniscule smile that turned into a smirk almost straight away. Kia sighed and looked at the sidewalk.

"You won't take 'no' for an answer..." She closed her eyes and sighed again. "Alright, move over then..." she demanded. His smirk became bigger.

"I'm not moving"

"Well then I'm not getting in. I won't go out onto the road just to get into your limo when I could..." Her little rant was cut off when Kaiba pulled her into the limo and onto his lap. He closed the door and they pulled away from the sidewalk. Kia squealed and laughed. "Oh Kaiba, you're a character and a half..." she breathed, holding her sides.

"So I'm not in trouble for this?" he dared ask. She laughed again. He smirked at her.

"Not unless you're trying to get into trouble..." she replied and suddenly remembered her dream. She got scared again.

"So tell me, what can I do or say to make you angry with me? I've made a few attempts already and yet all you do is smile or smirk or laugh..." he stated impatiently. Kia looked at him. She was still perched on his lap, his arms around her thin waist and their heads were extremely close together.

"You've been trying to annoy me?" she queried. Kaiba looked away from her. He would have looked down, but that would mean he'd be looking down her blouse. He had already noticed her dark bra and didn't need the embarrassment of being caught looking there.

"Well, not annoy, testing your limits" he refined. He looked back at her and smirked.

"I could ask you the same thing Mr Kaiba" she replied. He raised an eyebrow with interest. He opened his mouth to answer when the limo stopped. Kaiba let Kia slide off his lap and onto the seat beside him. He opened his door and led her out.

They both walked into school side-by-side and made their way to the homeroom. Taking their usual seats, Kia took out her novel and Kaiba took out his laptop. Both were doing their own thing, when Yugi and his gang walked in.

"Got your ten dollars ready?" Kia whispered to Kaiba.

"In my pocket, but I won't need it" he replied confidently. "They asked you already, they'll give up by now. Not even Wheeler could be THAT idiotic"

Joey walked over, followed by Tristan and Duke. Amazingly, Yugi walked over too. Kaiba raised an eyebrow but kept his eyes on his laptop.

"Goooood morning Kia, beautiful day ta match your beautiful face" Joey began. "I heard 'bout a differant movie in theatres now, maybe we could go check it out..." he suggested. Kia shook her head.

"No, thanks Joey..." she replied impatiently. Mentally, Kaiba noted the first question. Tristan tried next.

"How about a shopping trip Friday?" He flashed a credit card to show her that he was prepared for a lot of shopping. Again, she shook her head. Question number two. Duke jumped in.

"How about spending the night at my house?" He winked at her. She made a face.

"Um, no." She turned away from them.

"I wanted to ask you over to the game shop on Friday..." Yugi mumbled. Kaiba slammed the ten dollar bill on the desk in both disgust and amazement. Kia took it and put it in her pocket smiling a broad smile. The four guys looked puzzled and Kia laughed.

"I'm busy on Friday" she smirked and waved them away. The other three walked away, but Duke stayed behind.

"Busy with Kaiba, huh?" he suggested. Kia looked up at him.

"Tutoring MOKUBA Kaiba actually, Devlin" She narrowed her eyes as she spoke, with emphasis on Mokuba's name. Duke flinched and walked away. Kaiba chuckled.

"Nice one. Remind me not to try to annoy you anymore..." He glanced at her from the side. She was looking at her novel again, smiling too much to read.

"Sure I will" she agreed. "But I'm still going to try and annoy you" She laughed at him when he pulled a face. Téa was watching from Yugi's desk as Kia and Kaiba proceded to talk to each other.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: 196 views, 2 followers, 2 reviews... I thought I'd done alright with this story, I even have a sequel planned... Anyways, read and if you enjoy, Review or PM moi, I don't mind how you contact moi ;)**

* * *

Chapter 7

"Yugi, have you noticed that Kaiba's actually talking to somebody?" Téa's concerned voice startled poor Yugi out of his day dream. He could have sworn he was talking to Yami again...

"Yeah, I noticed Téa..." he muttered, staring at the desk in front of him. He paid close attention to the deep scratches that spelled out the word 'Fear'. He cocked his head to the side. Did he write that?

"But Yugi, like, he seems interested in Kia..." she reasoned, stressing the word 'interested' as she spoke. Yugi looked up at her.

"Yes Téa, I know" he replied. "I tried inviting her to the shop like you asked, but she said she was busy Friday evening"

"With Kaiba?!" Her small squeal was heard throughout the room. The person in question turned around and glared at her.

"Téa, quieten down..." Yugi whispered urgently. Kaiba turned back to Kia.

"Well that's what you implied..." she muttered. Yugi laughed.

"Sorry, Téa. She's tutoring Mokuba, remember?" Téa looked down.

"Oh yeah..." She looked at Yugi. "I forgot about that weird conversation..." Yugi nodded.

"So had I, but she kind of barked at Duke when he suggested what you just suggested..." Yugi began to laugh. Téa continued to stare at Kaiba and Kia.

* * *

"So Wheeler told you that I was a spoilt man-child, who thinks of nobody but myself and spends most of my time either playing duel-monsters or running my company?" Kaiba sounded somewhat amused. Kia laughed.

"Yeah, he doesn't seem to like you very much Kaiba..." she mumbled. There were in his mansion, in the livingroom to be exact. Mokuba was at a friend's house for the night which he forgot to tell Kaiba, meaning Kia arrived over for no reason. Ryou was out at the arcade with Yugi and the gang, so she had no way to get back into his house.

"I don't like him much either Ms Boulevard" Kaiba smirked at her. He was sitting crossed-legged on the floor and she was lying on the floor about three feet away from him. She stared up at the ceiling and sighed. That dream she had three nights ago was bothering her alot, but she had no-one to talk to about it.

"I can see why to be honest... You're always at each other's throats..." she mumbled in reply. He frowned at her.

"You're bothered by something, what is it?" he asked, crawling over toward her. She sat up and looked into his blue eyes.

"A dream I had a couple of nights ago, that's all..." she told him with a small smile. He raised an eyebrow.

"Care to share?" he offered. "I know how much a dream, bad or good, can occupy your mind"

"Well..." Kia looked down. "I can't say it actually, it's an awkward thing to explain really..." She looked back at him apologetically. He smirked.

"I didn't realise you had those kinds of dreams Ms Boulevard, I won't ask for the details" He took his cup of tea from the small coffee table beside him as he spoke and took a sip. Kia blushed a deep crimson.

"Kaiba!" she squealed, slapping his leg. He chuckled as he placed his cup back on the table. "It wasn't that kind of dream, what I meant was you were in it..." As soon as she said it, she covered her mouth with both of her hands and blushed even more. Kaiba raised an eyebrow, something she now found to be attractive.

"I was in your dream?" He smirked at her. "Was I portrayed as the selfish attention seeker Wheeler described me to be?" he asked, clearly interested. She shook her head.

"No..." she whispered. Four miles away, Bakura could taste her fear growing as she remembered the dream. She looked down at the floor and ran her fingers through the long caramel carpet. "You, uh... creeped me out..." She felt foolish telling the full truth.

"I creeped you out?" Now he was confused. He stared at her as she sat upright on the carpet. She was wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt. He waited for a moment as she stared into space, clearly upset. "Tell me how Kia" he suggested. She looked over at him.

"Slip of the tongue Seto?" she asked, emphasis on his first name. "We were here in your living room, lying on the floor..." she muttered. He crawled over and sat in front of her. "Am I in trouble for using your first name?" she asked him, squinting slightly in fear.

"Not at all, I've used your name twice now. But tell me, what's so creepy about us lying on the floor?" he queried, still not understanding her reaction to the dream. She gasped. Kaiba was immediately concerned. "Kia?"

"I was confused in the dream, I didn't know why I was there." she continued. "I turned over and saw you lying next to me. I asked what was going on, but then you..." She trailed off, unable to finish. Bakura was smiling in the arcade, feeling the energy her unplanned fear gave him. Kaiba held onto one of her hands.

"What did I do? Did I hurt you?" he demanded. Kia shook her head. "What did I do?"

"Nothing" She smiled at him. She seemed to be proud of herself. The fear dissipated and Bakura lost his energy. Kaiba wasn't impressed.

"Was I going to hurt you?" he asked. She shook her head quickly. He took her other hand and held the both of them in one of his. "Just tell me Kia, I hate secrets. Was I going to do something?"

"It seemed like you were going to kiss me..." She blurted out, before she looked away and blushed. Her chest tightened as she thought of his reaction. 'Where did that come from? He's going to send me away for saying that..' she thought sadly. Kaiba smirked.

"Kiss you? You were creeped out by me attempting to kiss you? Well that's a new one..." he stated calmly. She stared out the window.

"I have a fear of rejection Kaiba, not kissing someone." she informed him. "But then again, I've never kissed anyone before, so maybe that was half the problem." Kaiba straightened up slightly, as Kia mentally sighed with relief.

"A fear of rejection? Who in their right mind would reject you?" he asked in amazement. Kia looked back at him.

"I'm still an orphan Kaiba, I grew up being rejected by all the families who came to see me..." she told him. She looked down at her hands, still in his firm grip. 'Who in their right mind would reject you?' The words wreaked havoc on Kia's confused mind.

"So rejection from families and not from potential boyfriends?" he smirked. She laughed and faced him again.

"Both really" She smiled slightly at him. He thought of something potentially dangerous, but shrugged and moved towards her. Her smile vanished when she saw the reinactment of her dream. Well, the dream she made up to hide the real one. She parted her lips to tell him to stop, but he moved in and kissed her before a single word could be said.

She squeezed her eyes shut and panicked. She could barely breathe and her fingertips did that funny tingly thing that happens when you're scared. But after a moment, the fear disappeared and she began kissing him back.

* * *

Bakura excused himself to the bathroom and tried to make sense of his sudden surge of energy. He walked into the cubicle and sat on the toilet. 'I cannot go home yet, I must keep up the annoying pretense of being that soft fool Ryou...' he thought. 'But what is the reason behind this?'' Suddenly, he suffered a major energy loss that caused him to lose control. Ryou now sat in the cubicle, confused as to how he got there. He knew he arranged to come here with Yugi and the rest of the gang, but he didn't know how he got there.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: 220 views, so my summary works a treat :D I have a sequel planned in my head that I plan to start soon, but I think I'm going to create an OC for Ryou (the good one) and perhaps one for Duke? If you have any ideas for moi, don't hesitate to share! Enjoy, review blah blah blah...**

* * *

Chapter 8

Back at the Kaiba mansion, Kia and Kaiba were still in the livingroom. Kaiba pulled back slightly and whispered "Scared of that?" Kia laughed.

"Not at all..." she smirked, but pulled back away from him. He frowned as she blushed again and looked away.

"Did I do something wrong?" he asked gently. He didn't want to upset her. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

"Not at all" she answered, still looking away. Kaiba was confused. "You proved a point, I should go..." she mumbled, before trying to stand up. Kaiba kept a hold of her hands and prevented her from going.

"But I don't want you to leave..." he told her sadly. She choked on air as she looked at his adorable face. She definately knew where Mokuba got his puppy-dog eyes from.

"You don't? Seriously? What? Oh, I'm dreaming again..." Her little rant became nothing more than a mumble as she tried once more to get up and leave, but Kaiba wouldn't have that.

"I really don't want you to go Kia..." he muttered, put out that she seemed to want to leave. She looked down at the carpet.

"I don't want to go either, but I..." She couldn't finish. The words she wanted to say got caught in her throat and she could feel the pressure building up in her chest. Kaiba looked straight into her eyes.

"But what?" he asked, using his spare hand to tilt her face upwards to face him. Her eyes today were more grey than blue and Kaiba wondered why.

"I have a number of questions for you, but they're embarrassing..." She eventually mumbled. Kaiba laughed.

"Ask away, pretend I'm somebody else to make them easier to ask." he suggested. Kia laughed her cute little laugh.

"That wouldn't help..." she informed him. He opened his mouth to say something else, but she covered his mouth with both of her hands, still locked in Kaiba's firm grip. He raised an eyebrow and she smirked. "You said that you see things you're 'interested in' the other night..." she began. He pulled her hands away from his face.

"Yes I did" he confirmed.

"Well... Do you see me?" Kia blushed as she asked the question that had been bugging her since he said those words. Kaiba cocked his head to the side and smirked.

"Would it embarrass you if I said yes?" he dared ask. She nodded. "Then perhaps I shouldn't say that I've seen you since you arrived six months ago..." he finished, watching as she fell backwards onto the soft carpet. She squeezed her eyes shut.

"I must be dreaming, not happening, what am I doing here..." she whispered under her breath. Kaiba's voice came from directly beside her, his words tickling her ear.

"Do you dream about me alot?" he asked, very much so interested. She shook her head. He frowned.

"No Kaiba, I've had one dream about you and that was a few nights ago..." she muttered. She absentmindedly began wringing her hands in his.

"I liked it better when you called me Seto, Kia" he told her. Four miles away, a certain British boy was waving goodbye to his friends and driving home, earlier than he had planned. He had no idea how he got to the arcade and was worried about his health. He was experiencing black-outs alot this past week and he wanted to know why. Kia's phone vibrated in her pocket.

"It's a message from Ryou..." she muttered, taking it out of her pocket and checking it. Kaiba glared at the interrupting contraption. "He's on his way home now, I have a way in, but he's locking the front door at eleven..." she read. Kaiba checked his watch and saw it was only half eight.

"You can hang around for a while longer..." he informed her. She giggled and stood up with difficulty, considering he still had her hands in his. He let go reluctantly and stood up beside her.

"I'll stay for another hour so" she smirked and Kaiba smirked back. "Will you show me the basement garage? And the lift?" she asked. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"Um, sure?" he replied, unsure of how else to reply. She laughed softly as he took her hands again and led her to the grand staircase. She loved those oak stairs with the smallest strip of red carpet that ran along the middle. He moved to a small door in the wooden panelling on the side and opened it to reveal stone stairs leading down to the basement.

"Ooh wow!" Kia flashed a big smile looking down the old stairs.

"I'd say 'Ladies First', but they're rather steep and I'd feel horrible if you fell down..." he told her and began to walk down with an expert step. Kia took a step gently, then another and realised how steep they really were. Kaiba had turned around and was walking down the stairs backwards, facing Kia. She looked up and saw him.

"Show off..." she muttered and looked back down at the steps. The staircase wasn't that narrow, just steep and there were small white lights set into the walls. "It seems like you should have torches set into the walls..." she mumbled, much to Kaiba's amusement. He laughed and shook his head.

"You make me sound like a vampire or something..." he laughed. Kia giggled too and lost her footing. Kaiba held out his arms and caught her just before she fell passed him. She gasped.

"Woah, thanks..." she said, breathing heavily.

"I did warn you, just clarifying that so you can't sue me" he smirked and Kia laughed again. They made it to the end of the stairs and saw three people; A maid, a butler looking guy and a chef. They were each sitting on dark green couches, the stone walls looking green too because of those couches. They were in a sitting room of sorts, and Kia could see a passageway lined wih doors to her left. Kia mumbled a 'hello' as Kaiba nodded at them and led her to the garage to the right. She saw his assortment of sports cars and two SUVs, and in another corner, there was the infamous lift.

"Cool..." was all Kia could say as she moved toward it and had a curious look. Kaiba watched her as she inspected the metal device. Then he stood onto it and invited her on.

"Come on, it's cool just like you said" he persuaded. She shrugged and walked onto it aswell. Kaiba pressed the button and the lift began to move. She watched as the lift brought them up through the ground, she could see the soil profile she learned about in geography class in school. It _was_ cool, he was right.

"So how long has this been here?" She was curious to know if this was another of Kaiba's brilliant ideas. He looked at her from across the way, leaning seductively against the wall of the lift. He didn't realise however, and answered her question regardless.

"Gozaburo had it built into the mansion so his tanks and other murder weapons could be brought up with ease from his basement" he explained, watching as her face went red. She saw too soon how dangerous her question wasand looked away quickly.

"I see... I'm sorry I asked such an awkward question Kaiba.." she mumbled, feeling extremely stupid. Kaiba laughed, much to her surprise.

"It wasn't awkward at all Ms Boulevard, you asked a perfectly normal question and I answered" he informed her. She looked at him.

"Don't call me Ms Boulevard please..." she muttered quietly. Kaiba smirked.

"I'll stop when you stop calling me Kaiba"

Kia turned away from him. "Okay Seto, if you insist..." she replied, smiling. This was the weirdest visit to the Kaiba mansion ever for her. The lift reached the surface and they both stood out. "I should head home..." Kia told him. He nodded and looked away. She giggled. "I'll walk" Kaiba pressed a button on the wall and called for a porsche. Kia was surprised.

"You are not walking home" he told her. "It may be fall, but it's still cold" Kia pulled a pouty face.

"I know the drill by now, I'd say thanks but you'd get annoyed with that too, huh?" Kia followed him back to the front turned around as he walked and laughed.

"You're very perceptive Kia" He flashed a smile. She gathered her stuff in the front hall and faced him again.

"Thank you Seto" She smiled back at him, before walking out toward the garage. He pulled a face.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: So chapter 9 already :) I've noticed my stats going down for every chapter... I know Kaiba might seem a bit OOC, but I'm trying to show that he's cold toward everyone else but nice those that he loves :D Hence the fight a few chapters ago :) So yeah, read, enjoy, review ;) xxx**

* * *

Chapter 9

Bakura set up the machine to create a similar version of the happenings that occurred that very day. Kia was sleeping deeply again, she really didn't notice any strange taste off her tea. Bakura shook his head at her ignorance.

* * *

Kia was in Kaiba's mansion, sitting on the floor of the living room with Seto.

"Want to see the basement and the lift?" he asked her with a smirk. She smirked back and nodded. He led her to the staircase and revealed the hidden stairs. She gazed down, fearful of the steep steps.

"Follow me, it'll be alright" he assured her, as he began walking down backwards once again. She followed him slowly, taking her time as she went. They got to the bottom of the stairs without inccident and made their way to the lift in the garage. It was above them, seemingly stopped.

"Let's have a look, shall we?" Kaiba led her under the lift and she began to look around in wonder. She didn't see Kaiba move out from under the lift and press the button to activate the lift once again. By the time she noticed, she was out of time. She was forced to drop onto her hands and knees.

"Seto help me!" she cried out, as she crawled on her hands and knees to the doorway. Her chest tightened as she noticed the lift moving down toward her too fast. She looked around frantically and fell onto her stomach. The metal lift was cold against her bare skin as it continued to press on her, undetered by the obstacle in its way. She felt it crush her pelvis first and screamed.

"Seto, please..." she gasped. He stood outside, clear of the danger. He had his back turned to her and it seemd that he was talking to himself. The lift crushed her skull and the last thing she saw was Kaiba turning around with his arm around another girl. At that moment, the physical pain dissipated and all Kia could feel was the stinging pain of hurt in her chest. 'He rejected me...'

* * *

In the school-yard, Kia jumped and screamed. The dream she'd had the night before was recurring. Beside her, Kaiba looked up from his laptop and frowned at her.

"Kia? What's wrong?" he asked. They were sitting outside for lunch, leaning against the Cherry Blossom tree Kaiba always sat against. Yugi's gang of friends were sitting at the nearby table. Joey jumped up and ran over to Kia.

"What'd you do to her, Kaiba?" he demanded angrily, putting an arm around her. Kaiba frowned.

"Nothing Wheeler" he retorted, watching Kia as she shook off Joey's arm. Joey glared at him.

"I swear Kaiba, if ya hurt her or anything, I'll..." he threatened. Kia cut him off.

"I fell asleep and had a nightmare" she barked. Joey recoiled. "Or is it a daymare, considering it's day...?" Kia thought aloud, actually contemplating the idea. Joey stood up and looked at Kaiba.

"I'm watchin you Kaiba..." he muttered, skulking back to the table. Kaiba glared at him, putting his laptop on the grass beside him and turned to face Kia fully.

"Nightmare?" he inquired. Kia nodded as she fell backwards against the tree again. "What happened in it?"

"Nothing, it's fine Seto..." she mumbled. She didn't want to tell him that he killed her. Or the fact that he rejected her and had another girl on his arm. She pulled her bag closer and looked for her lesson plan for Mokuba. Kaiba reached over and moved her bag away from her. She sighed.

"Tell me Kia" he ordered, his concern evident on his face. She took in a deep breath.

"Typical feeling of falling" she muttered. "Told you it was nothing..." Kaiba wasn't convinced. He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. She smiled. "I'm telling you it's..." Her smile dissipated when she saw the girl from her dream walk passed them. Her mouth dropped as she watched Majorie White flip her dyed blond hair and batted her heavily make-up'd eyes at Kaiba. Kaiba completely ignored her and instead stared at Kia. Kia stared hard at Majorie, scared that she'd come closer. Kaiba reached out and poked her arm.

"Kia?" he asked. "Why are staring at White?" Kia turned back around to him.

"Do you see her too?" she demanded. Kaiba cocked his head to the side and frowned.

"Not the same way that I see you..." he muttered, clearly confused. "Are you jealous of her?" he queried. Kia pulled a face.

"Not at all..." She looked back at the grass and closed her eyes. "Sorry, really..."

"You have no reason to apologise Kia" Kaiba continued to look at her. "Just let me know if you need to talk..." he mumbled. Taking up his laptop again, he began to type up some bugs in his VR system that needed fixing. Kia couldn't help herself. Her eyes filled up with tears. She shook them off angrily.

"So, what are you doing?" she asked nonchalantly. Kaiba looked at her.

"Those new VR systems I recently released have certain bugs that need fixing. I need to..." he began, but Kia interrupted him.

"Pardon me, but does that make them dangerous?" she squealed. Kaiba stopped typing and raised an eyebrow.

"Potentially, yes. Why?" he replied. Kia looked down at her feet.

"I used one like, a week ago..." she told him. He looked at her with interest.

"What function did you use?" he asked. She looked up at him.

"The memory one..." She had to be cautious now. He immediately sat up straighter.

"What memory did you revisit?" he asked urgently. She blushed.

"Uh, us in your house eating pasta" she informed him. "I was testing to see how well it worked..."

"And what do you remember from that evening?" Kia looked at him with surprise.

"We ate, talked about the orphanage..." Kaiba nodded.

"Now what did the machine show you?" He needed to check how faulty the machines were. Kia's jaw dropped. How could she explain this?

"Well... It started the same, but then you were acting differantly" There, that ought to help him.

"How so?" Kaiba smirked as her blush crept back onto her face.

"You were, uh, touching my hair and being really cute..." 'Cute?!' She thought angrily. 'Why would I say that?' Kaiba was smirking at her. "What?" she demanded.

"I was being cute?" He reached over and pushed her hair behind her ear, but he didn't retract his hand. Instead, he rested it against her cheek, making her blush so much he was surprised she didn't faint. Joey was infuriated and it took Yugi, Tristan and Duke to hold him back. "Like this?" Kaiba asked, making Kia smile.

"Not quite this cute, but close" she told him. "You took your hand back after you fixed my hair."

"But I don't want my hand back..." he told her. She laughed. Joey broke free of his captors.

"Kaiba, ya get your dirty money-making hand offa her now!" he shouted, running over to them. Kaiba sighed and frowned simultaneously.

"I guess I'll have to take my hand back now..." he pouted. Kia giggled and took his hand away from her face.

"I'll hold onto it for now" she smirked, holding onto it. Joey eventually made the short trip over to them and almost ripped Kia's arm off pulling her up.

"C'mon Kia, we'll let ya eat in peace" he told her loudly. Téa ran over and grabbed Joey's arm.

"Let her go Joey!" she yelled. Kia automatically kicked Joey's shin, terrified now that she was actually dangling about two feet above the ground. She obviously knew she was kind of short, being five feet four inches, but this was ridiculous. Kaiba was on his feet in a shot and caught Kia as Joey let go of her arm.

"Wheeler, get your good for nothing existance out of here, or I'll make you sorry!" he barked at Joey, before checking Kia. "Did he hurt you?" he asked Kia. She checked her arm where Joey had grabbed her and saw the nice blue fingerprints he left her.

"Um, yeah, but I bruise easily so..." she tried to reason, but Kaiba wouldn't hear it.

"Wheeler, I have something to tell you..." Kaiba barked.


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Kia's kind of short, even for someone part Japanese ;) So yeah, 346 views! So pleased with that, even if I'm not seeing as many reviews as I'd like :) Read, enjoy and if you want an OC in the sequel, PM moi ;)**

* * *

Chapter 10

Joey hadn't moved when Kaiba ordered him to. So when Kaiba declared that he had something to say, Joey was worried.

"Wha' ya gonna say, Kaiba?" he demanded testily. Kia got a hold of Kaiba's arm.

"What are you going to say Kaiba?" she whispered. He looked down at her.

"Don't call me that. To you, I'm Seto" he informed her. Then he rested a hand on hers and turned to Joey. "Stay away from Ms Boulevard. If you get too close to her, she'll tell me and I'll have your head. If you communicate with her, she'll tell me and I'll have a restraining order issued towards you. If you even look at her wrong, I'll have you put away for the rest of your days. Do you understand?"

Joey stared hard at Kaiba, then turned to Kia. "Do ya want me ta leave ya alone?" he asked her. She nodded, glaring at him as she did. "Fine by me, I was tryin ta protect ya is all..." he informed her, throwing his hands into the air and walking back to the table. Téa stood there defiantly.

"I'm sorry Kia, or Ms Boulevard, for what Joey did. He thinks..." she began but Joey walked back over.

"I know Kaiba will hurt ya Kia, I'm tryin ta help ya out..." he defined and left again. Téa shook her head and followed him. Kaiba looked down at Kia.

"You alright?" he asked her quietly. She mumbled a 'yes' and took her hands away from his arm.

"Class will be starting soon, we should head over..." she reasoned, seeing his surprised face as she retracted her arms. He nodded and they were getting their bags when Duke walked over.

"Tough break Kia, that crap was stressful" he greeted her. Kia looked at him and narrowed her eyes. "So uh, tomorrow is Friday, perhaps we can..." A powerful slap sent him flying onto the grass.

"I told you, I'm busy. Plus I don't want to go out with you Duke, you're a player and a half" she barked. Kaiba stared at the surprised Duke Devlin lying on the grass. "Seto, are you coming?" she asked. He made his way toward her and they both walked to their English class.

* * *

The following day, Friday, Kia was tutoring her student in the Kaiba mansion. The homework she'd given Mokuba was to read the Irish story 'Oisín i Tír na nÓg' (Pronounced Usheen-ih-teer-na-knowg) and today, she planned on giving him notes on it. They were back in the diningroom, with a whiteboard from Kaiba and a smiling Mokuba.

"One of the most famous stories of Irish history, Oisín travels..." she trailed off, spotting Kaiba in the dark corner of the room. She raised a perfectly shaped eyebrow at him.

"Oh don't mind me!" Kaiba exclaimed. "I'm curious about Irish stories and stuff..." he told her. "Pretend I'm not here" he suggested, but crossed the room and sat on the table in front of Kia.

"Mokuba, have you read the story?" Kia asked, looking around Kaiba.

"Yes, I read it all. It's really rather sad at the end though..." he informed her. Kaiba felt out of the loop.

"I would have read it if I could read Irish..." he muttered. Kia laughed. Mokuba laughed too.

"How about I go to my room and do a sample answer, while you tell him the story?" he suggested to Kia. She nodded reluctantly and handed him the question. Mokuba walked out of the room, winking at Kaiba as he did.

"So, a guy goes somewhere...?" Kaiba offered. Kia giggled.

"Years ago, a small Irish army was training in a glen in Ireland. The best warrior was Oisín and he trained with his father and the rest of the Fianna (Feena - the name of the army) daily. One day, a beautiful woman on a magnificant white horse rode into the glen. Every warrior stopped their training and gazed upon this beauty.

'I have come for Oisín' she declared, still perched on her horse. 'I have watched you for a while now and I want you to return to the Land of the Young with me, Niamh of the Golden Hair'"

"Sounds like Peter Pan to me..." Kaiba smirked. Kia giggled.

"At first, Oisín did not want to go with her. Niamh was outraged and put a spell on him, so he would fall in love with her. He then asked his father could he go with his love to the Land of the Young and his father allowed him. He climbed onto the horse with her and they turned around to leave the way she arrived. The warriors followed to see where they travelled to, and were amazed to see the ocean parting for them to travel to their destination.

"Along the way, they came upon a town with a King in jeopardy. His daughter was locked in a tower by a large giant and Oisín offered to free her. The giant and he fought for three days and he eventually chopped off the giant's head. They set the princess free and continued on their way."

"Follow me and continue your story, please" Kaiba instructed, taking one of her hands and bringing her to the kitchen. He sat her at the island in the middle of the room and took some bread out of the breadbox.

"So they arrived anyway, and celebrated for seven days and seven nights. Oisín forgot completely about his family back home and started a new one with Niamh, having three sons with her. He stayed with her for many years, but began to miss his father. He asked if he could go back to see him.

"Niamh warned him three times not to get off of her horse while he was back in Ireland. He assured her that he would return to her side, safe and sound. He set off and arrived in Ireland quicker than he thought he would."

At this point, Kia stopped and looked down. "When he arrived, everything had changed. He had been in the Land of the Young for over three hundred years. His father was long-gone and the Fianna had dissipated about three hundred years prior to his return. He turned around to travel back to the Land of the Young and saw a group of men struggling to move a large boulder. He rode over and threw the boulder seven feet away from him.

"The men were in awe, looking at this strong young man on a beautiful horse. However, his foot slipped out of the saddle strap and he fell to the ground."

"His wife warned him to be careful..." Kaiba noted, spreading something on the bread in front of him with a knife. Kia nodded.

"The horse got scared and ran back to it's owner in Tír na nÓg. Oisín became a shrivelled old man in seconds and lived long enough to tell his story to the patron saint of Ireland."

"So he dies?" Kaiba scoffed. "I hate stories and movies where someone dies..." He resumed making his sandwiches.

"Some stories with dying charcters are good..." Kia mumbled. She remembered her dream and decided to change her mind. Kaiba offered her a sandwich. She laughed when she saw the Nutella®

"What's so funny?" Kaiba wasn't very happy to see her laughing at him.

"I thought you'd have something healthy in your sandwich, not chocolate..." she giggled, not quite able to explain herself. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"Do you not like chocolate?" he asked. Kia shook her head.

"I do, I'm a chocaholic..." she assured him and took a bite. "I just thought you'd have lettuce and healthy stuff instead of chocolate..." she mumbled, after she'd swallowed her mouthful. Kaiba looked thoughtful.

"You really think that I'm that healthy?" he asked. Kia looked up from her sandwich.

"Uh, yeah..." she confirmed. She nibbled the sandwich and looked at him warily. He had an eyebrow raised in the air and cocked his head to the side.

"What makes you think that?" he inquired, making Kia drop her sandwich. He smirked as she tried her best to compose herself and answer.

"Well, you certainly look healthy..." she began. Kaiba smirked even more.

"Explain?" Kia wanted to die. Suddenly remembering the crushing weight of the lift on her pelvis and head, she retracted her thought.

"Uh... You're not overweight and I'm sure you probably workout or something..." She looked down at her sandwich. A cup of tea was placed in front of her.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'm sorry I asked." he told her. She laughed.

"You commented on my appearance already, I had yet to return the favour" she smirked back, taking her cup and having a sip of her tea. Kaiba chuckled.

"I didn't fully comment, I just stated that you're not anorexic..." he reminded her. Kia giggled.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Anybody else sick of the writers on this site who PM you and ask you to review their fanfic, but they don't even bother reading yours? :/ **

**So this chapter starts with a dream sequence, based on the mysterious double doors in Kaiba's house mentioned a few chapters ago ;) It's a different opening, but I didn't want to start with the same old thing every time :) Enjoy, review ;) x**

* * *

Chapter 11

She was in the Kaiba entrance hall and standing outside of those big double doors. Kaiba crept up behind her.

"Want to go inside?"he asked her. Kia nodded. He opened the doors and they walked in. There was a large area of the room sectioned off as another, smaller room and a large console on the outside of it. Kia looked at it in amazement. She made her way into the room and looked at the floor. It was a large metal grid, which struck her as odd. Kaiba closed the door behind her and moved to the console.

"What are you doing Seto?" she asked. Kaiba fiddled with the control panel outside the room and pretty soon, Kia began to sweat. She looked around in amazement, was this some sort of oven? The room became unbearably hot. Kia looked back out of the window and saw Kaiba glaring in at her. Majorie was on one of his arms and Téa was on the other.

"Seto?!" Kia began to panic. She was in an incubator. The metal beneath her turned red with the heat. Her thin tennis shoes melted quickly against the metal, the smoke climbing up her legs and surrounding her. She began to sweat like mental. "Seto? LET ME OUT!" she shouted. Sooner than imaginable, her shoes dissolved completely against the metal floor and she could feel her bare feet sticking to the grid. Allowing the tears to fall freely from her eyes, she tried in vain to open the door, as the skin on her feet melted and her arms burned with an intensity that was unbearable. "Seto, please..." she rasped, dehydrated from the heat. His voice was barely heard over the sound of soaring heat in the oven.

"Why should I let you out? I don't need you Ms Boulevard" he told her. She looked at him in fear and sadness. He didn't need her. He didn't need her. He didn't need her...

Those were the only thoughts in her head as she lay down on the floor of the room and allowed the metal to melt the remainder of her skin. She no longer felt anything, but the rejection in her heart

* * *

Bakura noticed that Kia's pain and sadness kept him stronger for longer. He wondered if he should change her virtual reality. As he carried her to her bed, he saw the rings of tiredness under her eyes and the lack of colour in her face. All these changes after only a week of this carry-on. He was very proud.

* * *

Kia awoke Saturday morning to the sound of her mobile phone ringing. She checked the time on her phone and saw it was half past twelve in the afternoon. She grumbled to herself and answered the phone without checking the caller id.

"Hello?" She sat up in bed and ran a hand through her messy hair.

"Good afternoon Kia, I was working away and I suddenly felt compelled to call you..." Kia's eyes shot open at the sound of Kaiba's voice.

"Seto?!" she gasped. "How did you get my number?" She was very confused now... Was she still dreaming?

"I happened upon a certain eleven year-old who had his tutor's number on his phone" he explained, slightly put out. "I hope you don't mind me calling you or having your number?" He was sitting in his home office, papers strewn everywhere. Kia jumped out of bed and opened her trunk of clothes frantically. She felt horrible. She'd overslept and she felt ill and she felt tired and...

"Kia? Are you okay" Kaiba's concerned voice down the phone brought Kia back from her mind-rant.

"Yes, yes..." she muttered. Kaiba wasn't satisfied with her response.

"Are you at Bakura's house alone?" he asked urgenty. Kia looked out of her window and checked the drive-way.

"I guess so, Ryou's car is gone..." she mumbled. The phone cut off and Kia looked at it stupidly. Seven minutes later, Kaiba pulled up in his porsche and knocked on the door. Kia ran down to answer it, wearing a thin vest and a pair of shorts. She opened the door and saw Kaiba. "What the hell...?" was her immediate response.

"Might I come in?" he asked her. She stared at him for a moment before standing aside and letting him in. He walked into the small sitting room and turned around.

"Can I get you something?" she offered, rubbing her tired eyes. Kaiba smirked.

"I came to get you..." he told her, crossing his arms. She stared blankly at him.

"Why?" she mumbled, walking into the kitchen. Kaiba followed her and put his hands on her shoulders to spin her around.

"This is why, something's wrong Kia..." he muttered, drawing his finger along the dark circles under her eyes. She closed them. "You were perfect until I started talking to you... Perhaps I should..." he began to suggest, but Kia's eyes flew open and she pulled away from him.

"Perhaps you should what? Stop talking to me?" she barked. Kaiba was startled, which was extremely unusual for him. "Yeah, fine, it's not like you want to talk to me anyway..." she mumbled, tears welling up in her eyes. Kaiba was confused.

"What are you talking about?" he demanded. "I do want to talk to you, that's why I always do" he explained. "In school, at my home in the evenings, this morning now that I've arrived over... Always. I always want talk to you, always want to spend time with you..." he trailed off, noticing her scared and pained face.

"You don't need me Kaiba. You should leave..." Her voice was robotic and her face was stoic. Kaiba narrowed his eyes.

"No." He leaned against the sink (Silver and normal, Kia had noted when she first arrived) and stared at her. She looked down at the floor.

"Leave Kaiba" She stared at a smudge on the vinyl. Kaiba shook his head.

"Kia, I'm not leaving until you tell me what's going on" He re-crossed his arms. Kia collapsed into a chair.

"Nothing's going on, you need to leave" she returned adamantly. Kaiba looked at the vinyl too. She heard a noise from him that she never thought she'd hear from him ever. It sounded like he was crying...

"Kaiba?" Kia crept over slowly. He kept his head down. "Seto?" His arms suddenly wrapped around her and he raised his head, smirking at her.

"Why are you angry with me? I've done nothing wrong this time, I've been trying to impress you..." he asked. Kia opened her mouth to answer while she struggled to escape his arms, then stopped her struggles and shut her mouth.

"In the dreams, you kill me and tell me that you don't need me and you always have Majorie or Téa by your side..." she whispered. Kaiba frowned.

"Kia, those are just dreams" he reasoned. 'Besides, I would never hurt you. I would do all in my power to protect you." He pulled her closer to him and made sure he had her full attention. "You're the only young lady that I have seen and actually been interested in. Dreams are representations of your fears, nothing more..."

Kia paid full attention to Kaiba as he spoke to her with utmost sincerety. She knew he was being genuine and to his amazement, she began to cry. Her soft tears rolled down her face like pearls as she tried in vain to stop them. Kaiba looked at her puzzled.

"Kia, why are you crying?"

"I want the nightmares to stop..." She buried her face in his trench coat, resting her hands on his abdomen, soaking right through it in seconds and began to sob noiselessly. Kaiba only knew she was sobbing by her heaving shoulders and his damp torso. "Seto?" Kia's small voice sounded muffled in his coat.

"Yes Kia?" He thought of all the possible things she could say and all the replies that would reassure her.

"You're really fit..." she mumbled, her hands still on his chest. Her face went bright red as Kaiba laughed. "Sorry, I don't know why I said that..." she muttered.

"I don't mind at all" he assured her. She giggled.


	12. Chapter 12: Part 1

**A/N: Been pretty busy recently, so I apologise for the lack of updates to anyone interested :) Shout out to 'VampireSiren' for the reviews and PMs :D Love talking to fellow Yugioh fans ;) So this chapter is shorter than the others because chapter 12 was too long altogether. So I broke it into two :P Read, enjoy, review :)**

* * *

Chapter 12: Part 1

On Monday morning, Kaiba walked into the school homeroom expecting Kia to be sitting in her usual place. She wasn't there. Kaiba cocked his head to the side, as Joey and Duke glared over at him. Téa got up and made her way over to Kaiba.

"So, uh... Where's Kia?" she asked politely. Kaiba looked down at the chair.

"I don't know, perhaps she's ill?" Kaiba sat down and took out his laptop.

"You were the last person to talk to her I'll bet" she accused, resting her hands on his desk and leaning toward him. He raised his eyes and looked at Téa through his bangs.

"I don't appreciate being accused of kidnapping, Gardner" he barked at her. Secretly, he was concerned about Kia. After he left on Saturday, he'd been thinking non-stop about her. On Sunday he tried calling her, but her phone rang off. He drove to Bakura's house and found nobody home. Now this morning, she was still missing and Kaiba was not impressed.

"I'm not accusing you of anything Kaiba, I'm simply stating that you..." Téa's ramble was cut-off by Kaiba slamming his hands on the desk.

"I don't know where she is! If I did, I'd be there with her and not here without her!" He began to shout, getting more and more concerned about her. The teacher walked in just then.

"Mr Kaiba, do not raise your voice in such an improper manner" he barked. Kaiba slumped in his seat, something he never did in public.

* * *

Bakura (NOT Ryou) walked into their third class of the day. He flung open the door, making it bang loudly against the wall and drawing everybody's attention. Until now, Kaiba was simply sitting in a sulk, trying furiously to think of anywhere that Kia may be. He looked up and took note of Bakura's appearance.

His white hair was awfully unkempt, pointing into the air in mad, haphazard ways and his face was directed at the floor. His bangs cast a dark shadow across his face, temporarily blackening out his eyes. When he looked up to the sound of a teacher's voice, everyone could see his malicious smile and the crimson in his irises.

"Ryou, are you alright?" Téa decided to ask, despite the fact that the history teacher had called on him for disrupting the class. Bakura turned toward her.

"Gardner, your annoying voice brings back so many memories..." he replied in an almost dreamy tone of voice. Yugi straightened up in his seat, as soon as Bakura had spoken. Yami _had_ sent him one last message.

'Bakura is back Yugi; he feeds on fear and sadness' he told him. 'Kia is the key...' As soon as Yugi heard him, he was gone.

"Téa, get away from him!" he cried out. "It's Thief King Bakura!" Immediately, Joey, Tristan, Duke and even Kaiba stood up. Bakura laughed his evil laugh.

"Fools!" he called out joyfully. "Do you really think you can stop me?!" he asked, spreading his arms as he spoke. Kaiba had had enough.

"Where is Kia?!" he barked. Bakua smirked evilly.

"She's busy actually, in a very important place for her..." was all he said. Then he turned to the rest of the class and smiled maliciously again when he saw them all cowering with fear.

"That's right, fear me!" he shouted gleefully. Kaiba grabbed his coat and made for the door.

"Kaiba, where are you going?" Tristan's hushed whisper got the attention of the rest of the gang. Joey frowned at Kaiba.

"I'm going to find Kia, there must be some clue as to where she is at Bakura's house..." he muttered. Tristan grabbed his coat too.

"I'll go with you. Yugi, keep Bakura occupied" he directed. Yugi nodded and Kaiba scoffed.

"Saving her won't help you into her pants..." he muttered darkly. Duke got annoyed on Tritan's behalf.

"No, that's reserved for you huh?" Kaiba turned sharply to face him.

"I won't take that from the likes of you, Devlin." He stormed out of the room. Tristan saluted the rest of the gang and ran to catch up with Kaiba. He found him outside in the parking lot, opening the door of his lamborghini. Tristan jogged over to his motorbike and started it up.

"I'll see you over at Bakura's house Kaiba!" he shouted across the lot, before speeding off. Kaiba got into his car and started the engine. He noticed a scrap of paper in the passenger footwell, with "When will you love me? Will you in this timeline?" written in Kia's neat handwriting. He pocketed the scrap, intrigued. He was about to drive off when he suddenly had an epiphany.

'She isn't at Bakura's house' he thought. "She's busy somewhere important to her...' Kaiba cocked his head to the side. "Hiding in the attic..." he mumbled to himself. He recalled the conversation they had before, when she told him; 'I go upstairs into the attic and read' The orphanage, she was at the orphanage! He took off, forgetting completely about Tristan.

Less than a mile away, Tristan pulled up outside Bakura's house and cut the engine of his motorbike. He climbed off and pulled off his helmet, before looking around for Kaiba. His phone began to ring. He took it out of his pocket and answered it.

"TRISTAN!" Joey's Brooklyn accent pierced his ear. "I DON'T CARE IF YOU'RE FINDING KIA, WE NEED-" His voice was cut off suddenly. Tristan could only guess what he was going to say and took off back to the school, forgetting all about Kia and Kaiba.

* * *

Back at the school, Yugi, Téa, Duke and Joey were asking Bakura questions to keep him busy. The entire school (staff and students) were locked into the gym and these four were with Bakura in the homeroom. Joey had called Tristan when Bakura was shouting about Zorc and the return of darkness and blah, blah, blah... He ran over as soon as he saw the phone and slapped it out of his hand.

"Pay attention Wheeler!" he commanded. "My energy grows every second, the fear and sadness she provides excels that of the pitiful mortals in the gym..." he stated in a proud tone of voice. No-one but Yugi realised that he was talking about Kia, so Yugi snook to the back of the gang and took out his phone.

"Think of happier things" he whispered to his friends as he frantically punched in Kia's number. They all looked at him as though he'd gone crazy. "Trust me, negative emotions give him life. If we feel positive emotions, he'll disappear again..."

"Oh, I see!" Téa's annoying voice sounded 'enlightened'. Yugi smiled at her, clearly impressed that she understood him and trusted himhim. Tristan ran in and Joey filled him in.

"Ahhh... holding Serenity's hand on a beach at dawn..." Tristan day-dreamed. Joey glared at him before closing his eyes and thinking of Mai. Yugi thought of Téa and how he planned to ask her out, while Téa thought of spending more time with Yugi. Duke had a bit of a problem. He had too many girls to think about.


	13. Chapter 12: Part 2

**A/N: Okay, this story is almost finished! Just two chapters (including this one) an epilogue and it's all over! Well, not completely ;) I have sequels planned for this storyline and I can't wait to start on them! Enjoy, review ;)**

* * *

Chapter 12: Part 2

Kaiba left the car door open as he ran toward the old building. The front door was slightly ajar, with a note stuck onto it with a thumb-tack.

'Temporary move to Tokyo. Will be back in November.'

Kaiba pushed the door open and stepped inside. Memories of sleeping with the constant fear of never being loved, having inadequate food and giving his portion to Mokuba, wanting to move out of this sorry excuse of an orphanage and into a mansion. But the worst feeling was remembering the fateful day that Gozaburo arrived.

Shaking his head, he moved to the back stairs, hidden from view and walked slowly up. He'd been there before, about five years ago? He couldn't fully remember. At the top of the stairs was a door and behind the door was a girl. A girl in a large VR pod, with a KC emblen on the side. A girl in a VR pod with a KC emblem on the side, who was clearly in distress.

Kaiba rushed over and saw to his complete horror, the VR in which Kia was trapped.

* * *

She was standing in the Kaiba gardens with a blindfold on. She was covered in cuts and bruises, tearmarks running down her face. Her hands were bound behind her back with duct-tape and there were clumps of her hair missing from her head; Baldspots, marked with burnmarks, dotted around her scalp. She had long cuts along her forearms and the black shirt she'd been wearing was almost non-existant.

'Why me?' she thought, providing subtitles for the horrified person watching her. The VR machine displayed her thoughts in italic writing on the screen. She felt new tears brimming, even though she couldn't shed them due to her taped eyes and the blindfold. 'Why both?' she thought, distracting herself from the pain of the tape around her wrists and eyes. 'Wouldn't the tape be enough?'

An imatation Kaiba walked over, a lighter in one hand and in the other, a knife. He put the knife to her throat as he ignited the remnants of her hair and bent down to whisper in her ear.

"I don't like you. I don't need you. And I certainly don't want you around" His whisper, full of malice and hatred, pushed her over the edge. He pulled away the blindfold. New tears rolled down her face, escaping under the tape, each looking light pink in the dusky light.

The last thing she felt was the pain in her chest, as she realised that he didn't want her at all. The knife cut her soft flesh like butter and the blood flowed down her neck like a waterfall. The fire in her hair reached her scalp and burned it to a crisp.

She felt like sobbing. She wished desperately that Kaiba would stop. 'Perhaps this is my mind telling me what I already know. Kaiba doesn't like me, the friendship is just to mess with my head...'

Kaiba ripped the tape off her eyes and hands, and threw her onto the ground. She fell face-first into the pebbles beneath them both and didn't even flinch when they cut her face to shreds.

She didn't feel. She couldn't feel.

* * *

Kaiba stopped the simulation. He couldn't bear to see it anymore. The pod's glass shield rose and Kaiba took at good look at the helpless victim inside. Kia's eyes were red, underlined with dark circles that showed how sleep-deprived and stressed she'd been. Her eyes were slightly open, but she was barely concious as he took her frail body gently from the pod and carried her bridal-style all the way to his car. He strapped her in and got into the driver's seat. He felt calm, relieved. A certain stress had been lifted off his shoulders and even as he drove by the hijacked school, he felt no sympathy toward the people trapped there.

He had Kia. And that was all that mattered.

* * *

When Kia opened her eyes, she found herself in a big, soft bed. Her first reaction was to check herself ; Her hair, eyes, face, neck, arms, legs, torso... With her self-examination complete, she looked around.

The room was light blue with silver coving and a silver chandelier. The carpet was royal blue and the bedspread was royal blue with a silver design of sorts on it. She could only see a bedside locker from the way she lay in the bed, so she decided to raise herslf onto her elbows and look around more.

She pushed herself up from her lying position and got a massive fright. Lying on the other side of the bed (Fully clothed and simply lying on the duvet) was Kaiba, watching her every movement. Her heartbeat quickended as she saw the one person who seemingly caused her so much pain. She automatically shifted backwards in the bed, taking note of the silver pajamas she was wearing. They were much too big and must have been a satin material, which made her blush severely. She-Was-Wearing-His-Pajamas.

"I saw the simulaton..." Kaiba said gently. Kia was confused.

"Pardon?" she asked, simultaneously realising that her underwear was differant. She blushed even more at the thought of sitting in one of his beds in a pair of men's shorts. Kaiba looked down at the duvet.

"The programme set on the VR machine by Bakura..." he mumbled. His face became pained as he thought about it. Kia was confused.

"What are you talking about?" she queried. "I haven't used that thing since last week..."

"Kia, you haven't been having dreams about me" Kaiba interrupted. Kia frowned with confusion. "Bakura was putting you into the VR pod and creating a reality where I hurt you, both physically and emotionally..."

She gasped and fell back, hitting her head off the wall behind. Immediately, Kaiba moved closer and checked her. "Are you okay?" he asked. She nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine..." she muttered. She looked down.

"But why? Why would he use you like this?" Kaiba was angry. Very angry. "I went through the records on his machine and found that he was looking through your memories before creating the virtual reality..." he continued, trying to ascertain an answer. Kia whispered something. "Pardon?" Kaiba didn't hear her.

"I asked if the machine would show feelings in the memory?" she barely whispered, still looking down at the duvet. Kaiba stared at her for a moment.

"Yes it would, but what has that to do with anything?" he replied. Kia looked up at him.

"I should go, thank you for helping me..." she mumbled, trying to get out of the bed. Kaiba pushed her back down, the same way as always; Using his finger-tips against her shoulders. But this time, her right shoulder was exposed, as the pajama shirt was too loose for her. She couldn't help herself as she smiled and blushed at the contact.

Kaiba was about to ask her what she meant when he noticed her reaction. He raised an eyebrow at her and smirked. "Everything alright Kia?" he asked. She blushed even more. "I'm surprised you're still conscious, considering the fact that your face is such a strong colour of red" he teased. She looked up at him.

"That's why, isn't it obvious?" she informed him. His smirk disappeared as he became confused again. Kia's phone began to ring, resting on the little locker to her left. She answered it and put it on speaker.

"Kia, there's no need to be afraid or sad or anything!" Yugi's young voice came rushing out of the contraption before she could say 'hello'. "Bakura's back, the evil one and he's using your fear to stay here. Don't be afraid, don't be-" The phone cut off. Over in the school, Bakura had snatched the phone out of Yugi's hand and snapped it into two halves.

"Are you afraid of something?" Kaiba frowned at Kia. She stared at the phone. "Kia?"

"Uh, yeah, rejection..." She replied absent-mindedly. Kaiba shook his head and used his forefinger to lift her face up by the chin so he could see her face.

"You've always been afraid of that" he stated. She frowned. "What new fear do you have?"

"You..." she whispered. Kaiba frowned.

"That simulation wasn't real..." Kia interrupted him.

"No, not because of that... Because I think I might..." She looked down. "I think I like you" she barely whispered. Kaiba's expression changed from worried to light-hearted.

"And how is that a problem?" he asked, bringing her face up to meet his again. She frowned.

"Because you might just think I'm a stupid fangirl, you definately won't go out with me and I can't concentrate and-" Her small rant was cut off by another unexpected kiss from Kaiba. Only this time, the kiss lasted much longer than three seconds.


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: So happy with my reviewers! :D Makes me feel so much better when I have a new review or PM! Last official chapter! :P Enjoy, review ;)**

* * *

Chapter 13

Kia's heartbeat quickened, her breath caught in her throat and her fingers began to tingle. She looked at Kaiba in disbelief and was surprised when his tongue grazed lightly over her lower lip. She parted her lips slightly and almost moaned when Kaiba began exploring her mouth in lazy, circular movements. Without realising, she began to fight back which made Kaiba smirk against her lips.

"Kia, I think you're panicking too much" he informed her, pulling away slightly and smirking. Kia blushed and looked away. "No, don't look away!" Kaiba exclaimed, using his hand to bring her face back to his.

"Seto, I don't understand..." Kia protested, moving her face away again.

"Understand what?" Kaiba frowned with confusion. 'What was to understand?'

"Why me? You could have Téa Gardner, or Majorie White, or just about anybody else... Yet,you... you..." Kia frowned. Kaiba smirked again.

"I've kissed you twice, never anybody else; I talk to no-one else but you; You are the only reason why I still attend highschool, what's so confusing?" He watched Kia's face drop as he spoke.

"There's my point, it makes no sense to me..." Kaiba sighed and shook his head.

"I knew you were stubborn but..." he started and looked down at the duvet. "Gardner is annoying. 'Friendship' this and 'Together' that... It's all a bunch of nonsense" Kia's eyebrow rose. "As for White, she's as fake as that dyed hair of hers. Some reporter a few months back claimed that I prefer blonds, hence the spontaneous decision for all the females to dye their hair. A wasted decision really, I'd already seen you"

Kia sat shocked in the bed. "You'd already seen me?" Kaiba looked back up at her and nodded his head.

"Yes, I'd already seen you. An intelligent and quiet brunette, who sat miserably at Yugi's desk and stared into space as he explained his intimate relationship with an ancient pharoah" Kaiba smirked his trademark smirk at Kia.

"But I..." Kia was silenced by Kaiba's lips on hers.

"Enough talking for now, I've been waiting six months for you and I'm not normally a very patient man" he mumbled against her lips, making her blush again. Nonetheless, she kissed him back and again they fought each other for dominance.

* * *

"You are all about to witness the return of Darkness, Zorc and the des..." Bakura started his rant with certainty and malice, his sickening smirk and crimson eyes shining with pride at his own handiwork; but his rant was cut short when his 'Chosen One' felt another emotion, one she hadn't felt for years.

He collapsed onto the floor of the homeroom, the warm feeling in Kia's heart causing pain in his own. He frowned, she shouldn't be feeling this way. What was happening?

"It's working!"Yugi yelled. Joey, Tristan, Téa and Duke frowned at him.

"Wha ya talkin bout Yug?" Joey asked the question everyone was thinking. Yugi faced them all.

"It's Kia!" he squealed. "Ishizu told me about a 'Chosen One' back in ancient Egypt who fueled Zorc's energy. She didn't know about this however, and was actually a lovely young lady. She died very shortly after Yami sealed himself in the puzzle..."

Bakura fell to the floor, his legs giving way at the pain spreading around his body. It felt like he was burning from the inside out. He grabbed his head and squeezed his eyes shut. "NO!" Bakura's yell resonated around the room. "She's not supposed to be happy!" His voice became strained as he tried in vain to stay in control of Ryou's body. "She's failing...me..." Eventually, he stopped talking and simply lay there, looking much like a puppet with it's strings cut.

"Wait a minute Yugi, are you saying that Kia might die?" Duke asked, oblivious to Bakura's defeat and almost fell away with this news. Joey and Tristan were helping Ryou to his feet and Téa was listening to Yugi intently.

"Everyone will die someday Duke" Yugi replied. "But some sooner than others" As he said this, he looked toward Ryou who was holding his head with confusion.

* * *

"So you have a secret hiding place at the orphanage where you used to read?" Kia was lying with Kaiba on the bed in his bedroom. She didn't know it was his bed though, she assumed it was a guestroom. She was still in his pajamas, much to her amusement and had no knowledge of the happenings in the school.

"Yes. Mokuba and myself used to go there and share the food we'd bring home from school every day" He muttered. He was holding her left hand in his right hand as they lay on the duvet together.

"But if it's outdoors, and it was raining, then what would you do?" Kia turned onto her left side as Kaiba turned onto his right. He smirked at her as he raised a hand and stroked her face.

"Then we'd get wet, wouldn't we?" he replied. "A bit of rain wouldn't stop us Kia"

"Huh, I suppose..." Kia pondered the thought of Kaiba getting caught in the rain and blushed.

"Why are you blushing?" Kaiba asked with interest. Kia smiled and shook her head.

"I should probably find something else to wear" she suggested after a moment. Kaiba raised an eyebrow at her.

"But my nightwear suits you" he exclaimed, pointing to her exposed shoulder. She giggled softly and sat up.

"On a serious note, I should get my stuff and head back to the orphanage" Kia mumbled. Kaiba shook his head.

"You can stay here" He kissed her hand politely as she blushed and took her hand away.

"Are you serious?" She looked at him incredulously. He smirked.

"When do I ever joke?"

"You joke with me all the time Seto..." she informed him. He frowned slightly and answered her again.

"I'm being serious now Kia. I have no problem with you staying here, none whatsoever" He smirked his signature smirk again and Kia wrapped her thin arms around him. He looked down a her in surprise, but wrapped his arms around her.

"Thank you Seto" she mumbled. Kaiba smiled to himself. Then he remembered something.

"Oh Kia, I found this in my car when I came looking for you and I was wondering what it meant..." He handed her the piece of paper he had found in the footwell of his car. She gigged at the scrap of paper.

"It's an idea I had for a song I was writing..." she blushed as Kaiba sat up and turned to face her.

"You write songs?" he asked enthusiastically. She giggled again.

"Yes I do" she confirmed, siting up alongside him. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"Do you sing too?" He was very much so interested in this. Kia laughed.

"Lord no, I sound like a dying bird" Kia finally managed to say, Kaiba frowned.

"I beg to differ" he argued. He liked her soft voice, a voice that sounded angel-like when she was happy and then sounded terrifying when she was angry. He recalled last week when she slapped Duke Devlin and barked at him. Her voice was cold as ice and he remembered when he snapped at Devlin too, as he left this afternoon to find Kia. He evidently decided that both of them had a strong... Dislike, for Devlin.

"Oh, I do, trust me" Kia assured him. She was wondering what he was thinking about.

"I'll get you to sing someday" Kaiba promised her and she laughed again.

"Sure you will" she giggled, "On my deathbed perhaps" Her eyes began to droop, the exhaustion of the past week or so pulling her down onto the bed. Kaiba frowned.

"Sooner than that Kia" was the last thing he said to her before her eyes slide shut and she fell into a dreamless sleep.


	15. Epilogue

**A/N: The very last chapter! Kinda sad to end it here, but I'll be starting a sequel pretty soon and I can't wait! Shout out to 'vampireprincessofempire' for the review! :D**

* * *

Epilogue

"Now class, this here is the Rosetta Stone. Found by a Roman soldier, it shows the Arabic, Heiroglyphic and Latin languages..." The history teacher droned on in the very first room of the museum, much to everyone's displeasure. Kaiba and Kia, however, were free to roam the museum at their leisure. Unfortunately, Yugi and his group were around too and they found each other.

"Kia, Ishizu was wondering if she could speak with you" Yugi informed her after greeting them both. Kaiba frowned, but Kia nodded and turned toward him.

"Come with me?" she asked, her soft voice convincing Kaiba to push away any negative thoughts he had of Ishizu. Duke had started to laugh at Kia's question, which turned Kaiba's mood dark again. Kia also got annoyed.

"What are you laughing at Devlin?" she asked, speaking with anger and malice evident in her voice. Duke looked up at her, somewhat frightened and mumbled.

"You asked Kaiba to come with you..." He muttered, the dirty glint in his eye angering Kia. However, she blushed at the thought as she barked back at him.

"I didn't mean in that way Devlin" she snapped, her hand twitching by her side. She moved to slap him but Kaiba caught a hold of her hand.

"Lets go find Ishizu, shall we?" he asked, tugging her along as he walked toward her office. Kia glared at Duke as she was tugged along. Eventually, they came to Ishizu's office and Kaiba knocked on the door.

"Enter" was the command from within. Kaiba opened the door and motioned for Kia to walk in. She complied and Kaiba followed suit, closing the door behind them.

Ishizu's office was quite small, being a quarter of the size of Kaiba's office. It was beige in colour, with taup drapes over the two small windows by her desk. The furniture was plain oak; a desk, three chairs, a bookshelf and the door into the room. Kia felt uncomfortable in this room, but took a seat as Ishizu had motioned her to.

"It us truly a pleasure to meet you, Ms Boulevard" she greeted, extending a hand to shake Kia's. Kia smiled and said similar. "And Kaiba, it has been a while since Battle City"

"I was glad for the rest" Kaiba replied coldly. He had little time for Ishizu and her 'future sight' and intense interest in Ancient Egypt. It was like talking to a female version of Yugi...

"Has Yugi told you the purpose of this visit?" Ishizu enquired. Kia shook her head. "It has been discovered that High Priest Seto found a young lady out in the city of Cairo who fueled Zorc's dark energy. His millenium rod warned him of a dark time ahead, but he ignored it. When they defeated Bakura and Zorc, and the Pharoah sealed himself in the puzzle, she fell ill. She died a while after."

"And this concerns us how?" Kaiba asked, feeling annoyed. He didn't come here for ancient stories.

"Ms Boulevard, I believe you are Kazuko" Ishizu replied calmly. Kaiba raised an eyebrow.

"Who is..." Kaiba was iterrupted by Ishizu.

"Kazuko is the name of 'The Chosen One', the young lady who fueled the darkness in the world" Kaiba frowned as Kia looked down.

"You believe Kia is the one who fueled Bakura's energy and that she'll die soon?" Kaiba's deep voice was laced with anger and an undertone of worry. Kia looked up.

"Was she an orphan?" She was curious to see how many similarities there were between herself and Kazuko.

"Well... No parents have been found connected to her as of yet..." Ishizu was unsure of her question. She didn't know why that was relevant.

"I thank you for your concern, if any, but we'll be leaving now" Kia stood and motioned for Kaiba to follow. She opened the door and paused for a minute, turning back to address Ishizu one last time. "And even if I was Kazuko, I won't die anytime soon." And with that, she left the room.

* * *

Kia was horrified to find out that the room she had stayed in that first night at Kaiba's mansion was his bedroom. They stood at the top of the grand staircase, having turned right and were ready to walk to her room.

"Why are you so upset?" Kaiba smirked at her crimson face. Kia blushed further.

"Because it's your bedroom, your bed and I was in there..." She turned away and walked down the hall to her room. Kaiba followed her, clearly amused. She opened the ebony door and walked in.

The room was a nice size, the walls were a deep red colour and the coving was gold. There were two doors in sight, one for the en-suite batheoom and one for the walk-in wardrobe. The furniture was all ebony to match the door; a double four-poster bed, a small desk covered with make-up and perfume, a bedside table, a dresser, a chair beside the desk and mounted on the red wall across from the bed, was a 42 inch TV screen. A splendid gold chandelier provided more than enough light in the room.

Kia walked straight over to the wardrobe door and dropped her school bag inside. Kaiba sat on the bed and watched as she walked into the bathroom. The door was closed, but he still heard the sound of the shower as she stood in and let the hot water rinse her body.

It had been about a month since Bakura had been meddling with her and she was relieved that Kaiba had kept his word when he'd told her she could stay. Mokuba's Irish was coming along nicely, he'd passed his main exam about a week before the visit to Ishizu.

Kia washed her hair and rinsed, before standing out of the shower and toweling herself dry. Knowing Kaiba was still outside, she wrapped the towel around her and stood out into the room. Kaiba smirked and watched her as she walked into her wardrobe, then he lay out on the bed behind him.

She walked back out into the room, dressed in Kaiba's silver pajamas and her hair still wet. She walked over and sat on the edge of the bed.

"What if she's right?" Kia's soft voice sounded thoughtful. Kaiba raised an eyebrow at her (which she loved; it showed he was actually listening) and he answered with contempt.

"She's wrong Kia" His reply was firm. "She insinuated that you would die soon and I can't believe that"

"But what if she's right? Bakura lost his life force when I no longer felt afraid of you, so maybe..." Kia trailed off, thinking of it. Kaiba pulled her down toward him and held her close.

"Look, there may be similarities between yourself and her, but no Kia" Kaiba reassured her. She pulled back slightly. "What's wrong?"

"My hair is still damp, you'll catch a cold" she mumbled. He laughed and pulled her closer.

"I don't mind if I catch a cold, you'll be my personal nurse" he smirked against her hair. She giggled into his chest.

* * *

"Mokuba Kaiba! Look at this mess!" Kia stood at the doorway to the preteen's bedroom with her mouth in the shape of an 'O' in shock. Old chip bags were scattered about the floor, the chips trodden upon and mashed into the forest green carpet. There were clothes strewn everywhere, his yellow sleeveless jacket the only item actually hanging on a hook on the back of the door. Soft drinks cans and spills dotted every surface and to make matters worse, a schoolfriend of his walked out of the adjoining bathroom.

"Hey Mokuba, where's that mag you had?" he asked, completely ignoring Kia. She frowned as Mokuba walked over to a pile of socks and lifted as many up as he could, amplifing the stale smell in the air. He picked up a grimy Duel Monsters magazine (with Kaiba on the front cover)and handed it to the friend silently.

Kia stormed out of the room, down the hall and then down the stairs. She proceded into the kitchen where Kaiba was enjoying a cup of tea.

"I thought Mokuba could only have guests if his room is clean?" Her voice sounded low and dangerous. Kaiba looked up at her.

"Yes, as always. Why?" He frowned, confused as to why she was upset.

"Check. His. Room." she hissed through shut teeth. Kaiba stood and walked the five minute walk to Mokuba's room, Kia following. He opened the door and almost exploded with anger.

"Mokuba..." he mumbled after a moment, pinching the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb. Mokuba looked up from the floor.

"It was clean this morning Seto!" Mokuba looked as though he could cry. "I left Jayden alone in here for ten minutes and I came back to this!" Jaydin had in fact snook out after the initial discovery.

Kia's heart melted. "He could be telling the truth" she reassured Kaiba. "My brother had the same problem..."

"Uh Kia.." Kaiba tried to be gentle. "I didn't know you had siblings..."

"Oh my gosh!" Kia almost collapsed where she stood. 'Who was I talking about?'

To Be Continued...


End file.
